


Witness Protection

by barefootblonde



Category: Sons of Anarchy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arranged Marriage, Bikers, Canon-Typical Violence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, F/M, Flirting, Friends With Benefits, Implied Sexual Content, Jax Teller Being an Asshole, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:54:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 105,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27669838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barefootblonde/pseuds/barefootblonde
Summary: He pulled the trigger, she's the only witness, but she can't testify against him if she's his wife.
Relationships: Jax Teller & Original Female Character(s), Jax Teller/Original Character(s), Jax Teller/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 47
Kudos: 85





	1. Chapter 1

Light peeked in through the blinds in his dorm, and Jax winced through the pounding that split his head in two. He tried to move his arm to rub his eyes, but something heavy was in his way. He tried to shift again, and finally had to pry his eyes open - ah, that’s what it was. With a little nudge, he got the redhead sleeping on top of his arm to move a few inches to the right, freeing his arm so he could finally rub his tired eyes.

Then he glanced to his left and grimaced.

There was another girl, a brunette this time, curled up on her side with her back facing him. 

Maybe a year ago, maybe even a few years ago, he would’ve woken up like this and congratulated himself on a job well done, even if the details were a little hazy. But now, he blew out a heavy breath and rubbed his eyes again. He couldn’t let himself feel anything but bad about this. He just couldn’t.

Then again, the fact that he could feel anything _other_ than numb was kind of a miracle on its own. His feelings, other than the ones that revolved around rage, disgust, devastation, and disappointment...they’d all died on the side of the highway, right along with his best friend. 

The soreness in his face and knuckles and his back didn’t count as feelings anyway. He had a pretty good idea of what he would see when he finally let himself look in the mirror today - angry cuts, purple bruises, probably a black eye or two. That was fine. It was just par for the course now, given the choices he was making, and the road he’d chosen now.

Jax squeezed his eyes shut again when someone pounded angrily on the door to his dorm. He rolled over onto his side, not even caring when the redhead tried to snuggle up to him, her hand drifting over his stomach and headed downward.

“Not right now, darlin’,” he mumbled into his pillow. “You and your friend should probably get a move on.”

The redhead huffed a little, even as the pounding continued from the other side of his door. Jax buried his face in his pillow again, and groaned. Jesus fucking Christ, could he just have a break from all this shit just for a second? It didn’t even matter what time it was. He just wanted to be fucking left alone.

“Go the fuck away!” he hollered over his shoulder and then collapsed back onto his pillow.

The girls next to him started to stir a little more, and he hoped that meant they were getting ready to get the hell out of his bed and his dorm. About two seconds later, his door burst open and heavy footsteps mingled with the shocked shrieks of the two girls in his bed. Jax didn’t even bother flipping around on his back to get a look at his intruder. He had a pretty good idea who it was.

“Jesus Christ, Jax,” his brother spat out in disgust.

At this point, the redhead and the brunette were scurrying around the room for their clothes, but Jax stayed put. He turned his head to see his brother, the gentleman that he was, averting his eyes as the girls threw their clothes on, looking anywhere but on the half-naked female bodies in the room. Jax just huffed out a laugh before turning his head again to bury his face in his pillow. But as soon as the door closed, signaling last night’s bedmates were long gone now, the comforter whipped away from him, exposing his bare ass to the cool air in the room, shocking his system awake, and sending him jerking up and off the bed to grab for the covers again.

“You asshole,” Jax grunted at him angrily, making a mad grab for the covers, only to come up empty.

“No, that would be _you_ ,” Tommy shot back, whipping the comforter even further away from Jax’s grip. “I don’t give a shit if you’re naked. Get your ass up.”

Jax blew out a heavy sigh. Well, there was no winning this argument. He _did_ have a shift at the shop today, and if he was even a second late, the dictator in the office would show him no mercy. So, he swung his legs over the side of his bed, wincing when Tommy whipped a pair of boxers in his face too. He shot his brother a quick glare, but stepped into the boxers and pulled them up over his hips. That pounding in his head was showing no signs of going away anytime soon, not to mention the fact that now that he was actually awake, the throbbing in his knuckles and in his face weren’t going away anytime soon either.

Now, his brother was scrutinizing him carefully with the same blue eyes he saw every time he let himself look in the mirror. Sometimes, the physical similarities between them were a little scary and to anyone who didn’t know any better, they were often mistaken for twins - sometimes, one for the other too - despite the fact that Jax had two years on his little brother.

“Well, it’s good to see you’re still alive,” Tommy told him darkly. “After the beating you took last night, I thought I might find you stone cold in bed this morning.”

Jax winced again at the ache splitting through his temples, squinting an eye up at his brother as his elbows fell to his knees. “Wishful thinkin’, huh?”

“Oh, fuck you, Jax,” Tommy shook his head. “You’re a real asshole, you know that? Tryin’ to kill yourself...are you even taking your meds?”

“Fuck you, I’m takin’ my meds,” he shot back, and then jabbed a finger at him. “Are _you_ takin’ your meds?”

Tommy just huffed out a laugh, hitching both hands on his hips as he glared down at his older brother. “What do you think?”

“Ah,” Jax chuckled as he reached for his cigarettes and his lighter. He slid one out of the pack, offered one to Tommy, who hesitated, but still took one, and then brought his lighter up to his lips. After he lifted his lighter up so Tommy could dip his head toward the open flame, Jax tossed his lighter and cigarettes onto his bed, hooking a hand on his thigh as he took a long pull from his cigarette.

“I bet the missus wouldn’t be happy to see ya with one of those in your hand,” Jax grinned, tipping his chin to the cigarette in Tommy’s hand. “I bet she shoves your pills down your throat every morning too.”

“Hey,” Tommy threw back good-naturedly. “At least she cares whether I live or die, ya know? It’s not so bad...havin’ someone at home, waitin’ on me, dependin’ on me, takin’ care of me. I don’t mind it.”

“Uh huh,” Jax huffed. “Kinda sounds like my living nightmare, bro.”

“Yeah, well,” Tommy chuckled as he took another long pull from his cigarette, exhaling slowly so he could enjoy every second of it. “Like you could find someone who’d put up with your shit long enough to set up house with you. Looks like you got it all figured out, huh? Get your ass beaten to a pulp, drink yourself into oblivion, let a hangaround or two fuck the pain away, get dragged outta bed in the morning, work your shift at T-M, and then do it all over again. That’s a great life plan, bro, since you’re clearly hurtling head-first toward an early grave. That what you want?”

Jax took a long, hard look at his little brother for the first time since he burst into his dorm. Even now, he had to shake his head at the costume. It _still_ didn’t sit quite right, despite the fact that Jax had seen Tommy wearing it proudly for the last eight years or so. The badge still threw Jax off, the douchey belt and holster didn’t make it any better, and the stiff brown shirt and tan pants _still_ didn’t really fit him that well. Not that any of it really mattered much - the costume was still a costume, and now that costume bore a pretty convenient title too.

Now, Tommy lifted his dark blonde eyebrows expectantly, still waiting for an answer.

Jax just blew out a heavy sigh and reached for a half-empty bottle of beer on his nightstand. He sniffed in the mouth of the bottle, shrugged, and took a swig of the stale beer. He barely even registered the fact that his brother was still shaking his head at him, given the pounding in his head and the throbbing in his knuckles, and the stiffness in the rest of his body - he had half a mind to just bury his head in his pillow again and ignore Tommy’s continued presence in his room altogether. 

Some movement caught his attention, and he glanced up to see Tommy holding out his orange prescription bottles with a grim expression on his face.

“Take ‘em now,” Tommy murmured. “Then I know you took ‘em. Or, I can always tell Ma on my way out that you wouldn’t cooperate with me. You wanna go down _that_ particular road, or do you wanna be a good boy and take your meds like you’re supposed to?”

Jax winced at that, and opted for the path of least resistance. He reached out and let Tommy dump two pills into his hand, then popped them into his mouth without hesitation, chasing them down with another swig of stale beer.

“Ya know,” Jax shook his finger at his little brother. “I think you might actually enjoy tellin’ on me. That would take some of the heat off you, don’t ya think?”

Tommy just rolled his eyes but lifted a shoulder. Jax was right and they both knew it. Their mother was a force of nature, to be sure, and she never missed an opportunity to meddle, to poke, and to pry where she didn’t belong. They’d been dealing with her helicopter-mother disorder as long as they could remember, and that had only multiplied ten-fold after JT got hit by a semi and subsequently dragged down the side of the highway for two miles 17 years ago. It didn’t matter that she’d remarried two years later. The woman liked to hover - it was her fucking superpower, and if there was one thing Gemma Teller-Morrow hated, it was to be kept out of the loop. So it had been no surprise to anyone that when her youngest son eloped, without saying a word beforehand, and then showed up on T-M’s property the next day with his new wife, that Gemma had not been happy with the news.

She was _still_ not happy two months later, and she hadn’t let Tommy forget it.

“Whatever,” Tommy just batted his hands in the air, cigarette and all. “I won’t lie, bro - I had an ulterior motive for showin’ up here this morning other than to make sure you were still alive after last night.”

Jax cocked a wary eyebrow at him, waiting impatiently as he took another swig of stale beer. Then he rolled his eyes when Tommy took a slightly menacing step forward.

“You’re comin’ to my house tonight for dinner,” Tommy jabbed a pointed finger at him. “And I’m not takin’ no for an answer.”

“Aw, fuck, bro,” Jax dipped his head between his elbows and sighed. “Really? I mean -”

“You owe it to her,” Tommy just shook his head. “You owe it to _me._ She might’ve forgiven you, but I sure as shit haven’t.”

All he could do was blow out a heavy sigh.

“You gotta put in an effort, bro. That’s my wife. My fuckin’ _wife_ . I know I can’t count on Ma for anything right now because Ma’s gonna be Ma about it, but I _should_ be able to count on you, Jax. You bailed on her parents’ funeral - even Ma showed up for that. She’s my family now, and that makes her _your_ family too. You gotta start showin’ up. You just gotta.”

He dropped his head even lower between his elbows, and then ran a hand over his tired eyes. Tommy was right. He _should’ve_ been at his new sister-in-law’s parents’ funeral. He really should’ve. He just hadn’t been able to bring himself to attend another funeral so soon.

“Look, Jax,” Tommy pushed on. “I get it, okay? I get why you bailed. I know that Ope hadn’t even been in the ground for a week when all that shit went down with Willa’s parents. I _know_ being around all that death, all that sadness, all that crying...I was right there with you on all that. It was fuckin’ hard, but you know what, bro? We’re still here, and we just gotta keep on living. We gotta show up for our family, and you dropped the ball. And you know what else? Willa thinks our whole family and everyone in the club fuckin’ hates her. Is that what you want?”

“Well, that _is_ sorta true, at least where Gemma is concerned,” Jax pointed out helpfully, but then he just sighed again when Tommy glared at him. “But no, bro, that’s not what I want. Willa’s a nice girl, and she’s good for you. I can see that, and I get it. I’ll do better. I’ll _be_ better.”

All that was true, but it still didn’t negate the fact that Jax really _did_ share some of Gemma’s feelings toward their new family member. Not that he’d ever tell Tommy that. Willa _was_ a nice girl. She was nice to look at too. But that was pretty much where it ended. Because at the end of the day, Willa was just a ditzy Valley girl who’d uprooted her life six months ago after a weekend of hooking up with Tommy in Charming. She’d been in town to visit her parents, had gotten herself into a little fender bender, Tommy had shown up on the scene, riding in on his white horse, and had basically swept her off her feet. It was all so nauseatingly romantic and cliché it made Jax a little sick to think about, even now, six months later.

And then, two months ago, when Tommy and Willa had randomly shown up at the shop to tell them they’d gotten married the day before, everyone had automatically assumed it was just because she was knocked up. _That_ had turned out to be just an assumption, and one Tommy was still a little touchy about.

Still, Jax had a hard time understanding his little brother’s choice in a wife. Especially since it wasn’t like Tommy ever had any trouble getting just as much play as Jax did - if the kutte was a chick magnet, then so was the badge. They’d been practically swimming in pussy, in and out of the clubhouse, the second they were old enough to have their first cigarette. And, then for Tommy to just throw all that away for a cute but airheaded blonde he barely knew, who _wasn’t_ knocked up, when he’d never given any kind of indication before that this was the kind of thing he even wanted? Gemma had been practically scaling the walls when she found out her youngest son had tied himself to an outsider this way, and Jax wasn’t all that far behind her.

So, this choice, to settle down and play house, and this particular choice of woman, was an odd one for his brother and it was one Jax still couldn’t wrap his head around.

But that didn’t change the fact that he really should’ve shown up to her parents’ funeral. It _was_ a dick move, and a move Tommy and Willa had every right to be pissed about. It was also pretty fucking insensitive if he was being honest with himself, which he wasn’t. But he’d literally buried his best friend three feet away from his wife just days before Willa’s parents had gotten into that car accident, and he just hadn’t been able to bring himself to show up to another funeral, especially for people he really didn’t know.

“You better get your ass to my house tonight,” Tommy pointed a finger at him again, his tone firm and resolute. “I know you’re not on the roster to fight tonight, especially not after last night, and since I’m not on ‘til tomorrow, you’ve got no excuse. Not a single one.”

Jax squinted up at him with one eye open. “Your wife a decent cook?”

Tommy blew out a heavy sigh. “Does that really matter?”

“Sure does, bro,” Jax laughed. “If I gotta show up and play happy family with you two, I better be gettin’ a good meal out of it.”

Tommy eyed him carefully. “She’s roasting a chicken.”

Jax nodded with satisfaction. “That’ll do. Count me in.”

“I think she just wants to impress you,” Tommy sighed, running a hand through his overly-long blonde hair. “Although why she wants to do that is beyond me, when it should be the other way around. Oh, and hey, before I forget to tell you later, Willa’s sister is still in town and I’m pretty sure she’s gonna be there too. It sounds like she’s probably gonna be hangin’ around in town for a while anyway, so I gotta talk to Ma about that today too.”

Jax frowned back at him, quirking an eyebrow as he lit up another cigarette. “What’s Ma got anything to do with the sister?”

“Harper needs a job if she’s gonna be staying here indefinitely, which it sounds like she is...I don’t know, they were talkin’ about it last night, and I won’t lie, I kinda tuned them out after awhile, but somethin’ about she was gonna get married and now she’s not, and Willa misses her and wants her to live closer now that their parents are gone and somethin’ about they’re the only real family they got left -”

“What?” Jax smirked. “Maggie doesn’t count?”

“Nah,” his brother just shook his head with a laugh. “I don’t think they really count Maggie as family, and I guess I don’t blame them.”

Jax just lifted a shoulder - that was probably fair. If their roles were reversed, he probably wouldn’t consider a life-long croweater as family either, at least not if he could help it. Maggie Sullivan was a lot of things, particularly Tig’s favorite girl inside the clubhouse, but she was not family - or aunt - material of any kind. Jesus, just even thinking Tig’s _name_ made Jax’s blood boil.

“Anyway,” Tommy pushed on exasperatedly. “Long story short, I think Willa’s got Harper talked into staying for a while. I guess they’ve got their parents’ house a little while longer before it goes on the market, and I think she’s gonna crash there for now.”

Jax squinted at him again nonchalantly. “You know I don’t give a shit about any of this, right?”

“Right,” Tommy huffed. “But I’m _trying_ to explain how Ma factors into all this, and that’s because I need Ma to find Harper something to do in the office. You know they’ve got all this fuckin’ debt on their shoulders now, right? And I guess I do too…”

He _had_ heard something about how the new Mrs. Tommy Teller and her little sister had gotten the surprise of their lives when they found out the amount of debt their parents had racked up over the years. Apparently, they’d been under the impression that their family had money, but all of that had just been an illusion. And, like most people, they’d also been under the impression that debt dies with the debtor, or in this case, _debtors_. They’d gotten a pretty rude awakening when they realized that, as beneficiaries of their parents’ estate, they were also the beneficiaries of not just their assets, but their debt too. Apparently, debt collectors don’t really give a shit if a person is alive or dead - they still want their damn money. And now, Willa and her sister were saddled with that debt, and by extension, Tommy was too.

Which, Jax supposed, was why Willa’s sister would need some income if she was going to stay here for any real length of time. But still…

“You really think Ma’s gonna bend over for you like that?” Jax threw out lightly. “You’re still in the doghouse, bro, and you’re gonna be for a long time. I don’t think that gets you any favors from her for a while.”

“Yeah, well,” Tommy shot back. “Maybe I’m pissed at her too. Maybe I’m not happy about the way she’s treating my wife, and if she knows what’s good for her - and if she ever wants to see any grandchildren, when she gets them - she’d better bend over, even if it’s just a little bit.”

“Shit,” Jax grimaced, running a hand through his long, tangled blonde hair. “I guess that’s fair,” and then he had a nauseating thought, and narrowed his eyes at his brother, “Wait a minute...this whole thing, this dinner shit - this isn’t some kinda weird sibling set-up, is it? ‘Cuz if it is -”

Loud laughter cut him off, and Tommy dipped down a little, holding his stomach as he guffawed, and wiped his eyes. “You really think I’d set Willa’s sister up with _you_ , ya piece of shit?”

Jax’s head reared back at that with a grimace, and he huffed in exasperation as he rose up from his bed, brushing past Tommy to throw his work clothes on.

“That kinda hurts my feelings, bro,” Jax called over his shoulder as he buttoned up his T-M work shirt.

“Fuck if I care,” Tommy just laughed. “Besides, even if you weren’t a complete piece of shit, Harper was literally engaged, like, last week, and now she’s not. All I’ll say is that you’d better be nice to them - _both_ of them. And no fuckin’ drinking before you come over either. I’ve got beer at the house, you can have a couple, and I’ll get you back to the clubhouse to make sure you don’t kill yourself or someone else, alright? Just don’t show up drunk, okay? All I’m asking is that you keep it together for a few hours. That’s it.”

Jax just shrugged as he pulled on a pair of jeans. That was fair. And while he could argue and try to fight it all he wanted, he knew Tommy was right. He really did owe it to them, at least to Tommy, to put in an effort after he’d already fucked up so badly. If Gemma wasn’t going to put in an effort to smooth things over, pissing off Tommy in the process, the least Jax could do for both of them was try to keep the peace.

“Alright, Tommy,” he grinned good-naturedly. “I’ll be on my best behavior. I promise.”

“You’d better,” his brother sighed heavily. “I don’t want any of this shit to carry over to the club, you know? Ma’s always gonna be Ma, but I expected a little better from you.”

“I know, bro. I’ll be better. I promise.”

Jax clapped Tommy on the shoulder as they headed out of his dorm and sauntered down the hallway together. They each took a moment to pat JT’s handlebars on their way out, tipping their chins to Chibs and Bobby, who were parked at the bar with a smoke and a beer in their hands for breakfast. Then they pushed through the clubhouse’s double doors, stepping out into the early afternoon light, shoulder to shoulder, and each brother right in step with the other.

It didn’t take long for their mother to materialize from T-M’s main office, her dark eyes narrowing the second she got a good look at both of her sons, sweeping her gaze over the obvious and angry bruising on her eldest son’s face before shifting to her youngest, which only made that sour expression on her face deepen.

“Looks like this is gonna be fun,” Jax muttered under his breath.

“If you walk away right now, bro, I swear to God…”

“Alright,” Jax laughed, clapping a hand on his brother’s shoulder again in a show of solidarity. “I won’t leave you to fend off the devil on your own.”

“Well,” Gemma called out to them with her hands on her hips. “If it isn’t the chief of police and his dead-beat brother. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Tommy huffed out a laugh, shaking his head at their mother like he just couldn’t believe this woman was actually their mother. Sometimes, Jax had those moments too...but he wasn’t stupid enough to actually make those moments known to the woman who’d given birth to them.

“Hey there, Ma,” Tommy shot back coolly, and shoved his hands in his pockets as he appraised his mother with his ever-watchful gaze - which also happened to be the same one he’d inherited from his mother. “How’s it goin’ today?”

“Oh, you know, this and that,” Gemma allowed with a tight smile as she drew closer. When she got a better look at Jax’s face, she frowned and took him by the chin so she could scrutinize his injuries even closer with her eagle eye. “You look like shit. Nice to see you’re still alive though.”

“Thanks, Ma,” Jax nodded warily. “Love ya too.”

Gemma tsked at him before turning her attention to Tommy now as she tipped her chin to him. “At least he’s on time for his shift today. Thanks for draggin’ his ass outta bed.”

“Sure thing,” Tommy grinned tightly. 

Gemma lifted her eyebrows at him. “How’s the little woman? Still not pregnant or you two workin’ on that right now?”

Tommy stiffened at that almost immediately, his shoulders hunched over, and a second later, he took an aggressive step toward his mother with a finger pointed right at her. “You _can’t_ talk about my wife that way, Mom. It’s not fair to her - this shit stops now!”

When Gemma mirrored Tommy’s movements with her own aggressive step forward, Jax took that as his signal to intervene, getting in between the two of them with his hands outstretched to put some more space between them.

“Alright, alright,” Jax huffed. “We all know how you feel about each other. There are customers around, so let’s just keep this under wraps, a’ight?”

Gemma turned her hawk-like glare on Jax now but ultimately backed off because he was right. The parking lot was bustling left and right with customers hauling their vehicles in for service, and Gemma was right on the verge of giving them all a nice little show. Sure, people in town knew exactly who ran T-M, but that didn’t mean they needed to give anyone reason to feel nervous or scared about giving the club their business, regardless of their ace in the hole by way of chief of police.

His mother tipped her chin to Jax with some new concern flooding her eyes. “You take your meds today?”

Jax lifted his eyes to the blue sky above him and sighed. “Yes, Ma. Tommy shoved ‘em down my throat this morning.”

“Good,” Gemma nodded tightly, and then pointed a sharp nail at him. “ _Don’t_ be skipping pills, Jackson, especially not with the beatings you’ve been takin’ in the ring lately. I know I’m never gonna talk you outta doin’ that shit, but the least you can do is take your meds and go to your doctor appointments when I make them for you.”

“I know, I know,” Jax held up his hands. “I went to the last one, remember? I didn’t skip it.”

“Uh huh,” Gemma huffed exasperatedly, but not before turning to her youngest son and patting him on the cheek. “Thank you, baby. I love you. You know that, right?”

Tommy sighed heavily, stepping into his mother’s touch just enough to put his hand over the top of hers. “I know, Ma. I love you too, but you’re makin’ it really hard for me right now.”

“I know,” she nodded tersely, sliding her hand down to Tommy’s chin. “I’m sorry about that.”

“No, you’re not,” Tommy just shook his head. “Her parents died _literally_ three weeks ago. The least you could do is cut her a little slack right now.”

That gave her some pause, and for once, a little bit of humility crossed her face. “I suppose you’re right. How’s she doin’?”

Tommy sliced an angry hand through the air before tearing that same hand through his hair. “How do you think she’s doin’? She’s cryin’ all the time...sad all the time...not like I can blame her. And you know, it would be really nice if my family would step up and help us a little bit, with everything she’s goin’ through right now, but I guess that’s just too much to ask, isn’t it?”

Shit, he really knew where to hit low and hit hard. Even Jax shifted a little uncomfortably from side to side, averting his eyes away from his brother’s frustrated ones. Tommy had every right to be pissed because they _hadn’t_ stepped up, and all three of them knew it. 

“Well, okay, you’re right,” Gemma allowed, hitching a hand to her hip. “What can I do then? How can I help?”

Tommy shot Jax a sly glance, and all Jax could do was shake his head. Boy, she’d really walked right into that trap, and pretty damn easily too. His little brother had always known how to play their mother like a fiddle, taking extra advantage of his status as the baby of the family, and Gemma really did fall for it every time.

“Well, Ma, seein’ as how you asked so nicely, there _is_ somethin’ you can do.”

Jax half-expected to see Tommy rub his hands together with glee, knowing he had Gemma right where he wanted her. Gemma, to her credit, at least seemed to realize she’d been had when her eyebrows lifted warily into her forehead and she swept some dark hair behind her ear, folding her arms tightly across her chest as she waited.

“What’s that, Thomas?”

“You remember how I said Willa’s parents left behind a shitload of debt? I think I might’ve mentioned that Willa’s sister was back in town too, right?”

Gemma’s eyes narrowed a little dangerously. “I remember. Why?”

“Well,” Tommy scratched the top of his head, squinting at his mother sheepishly. Shit, he really _did_ know how to play that woman like a fiddle. “It’s lookin’ like Harper’s gonna be stickin’ around for a while. She was engaged...and now she’s not, and Willa’s got her convinced that she really doesn’t have much to go back to in LA, which is true, I guess, and all this unresolved shit with their parents and now maybe a lawsuit -”

“They heard back from that lawyer?” Gemma cut in worriedly. 

A wrongful death lawsuit against Tommy’s wife was a wrongful death lawsuit brought against Tommy too. And here Tommy must’ve thought marriage was such a great idea, Jax thought ruefully. 

It was pretty clear from everything they knew about the accident, that Willa’s dad had been drunk at the time, and had not only taken out him and his wife, but the person in the other car too. The wrongful death lawsuit wasn’t a foregone conclusion yet, but if the rumors were true, it was probably pretty likely. Which also meant it was probably pretty likely that the sisters could kiss any payout from their parents’ insurance goodbye too.

“Not yet,” Tommy shook his head. “They’re hoping to get some more intel as soon as Larry’s toxicology report comes back from the medical examiner, but that’s probably gonna take more time. I tried to put a rush on it, but there’s only so much I can do when it comes to that kinda shit.”

Both Jax and Gemma nodded grimly at that - Tommy was able to pull a shit-ton of strings in his position, no one knew that better than them. But even this was probably beyond him.

“Anyway,” Tommy just batted a hand in the air to push through it. “What I was really getting at was that Harper’s gonna be in Charming for some time now, and with all this shit goin’ on, and all the bills her and Willa - and me - have to pay now, she’s gonna need a job. And I was _hoping_ , since you said you’d like to help out, that you could find somethin’ for Harper to do in the office. I mean, I know you’re lookin’ to start cuttin’ back, and you could get her trained up on a lot of the shit you’d rather not do and that frees you up for other things. So what do ya think?”

Gemma exhaled slowly, eyeing her youngest son carefully, hesitantly, before she spoke again. “The sister anything like your wife?”

Jax squeezed his eyes shut, swearing under his breath as he shook his head at his mother. Did she _ever_ learn? Did she really want to drive Tommy so far away that the only time they saw him was for club business? What the hell was she thinking right now?

“Jesus Christ, Ma,” Tommy barked hotly. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Gemma’s hands immediately shot up in the air in defense. “I was just askin’ a question. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Bullshit,” Tommy shot back. “I know exactly what you meant.”

Her hands just flew up even higher in the air. “I was just wonderin’ what the sister was like. I didn’t ask that question the right way, and I see that now. I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean any offense.”

“Sure, you didn’t,” Jax muttered under his breath.

Tommy just huffed out an exasperated sigh and tore a hand through his hair. “Harper is...she’s different from Willa.”

Gemma’s dark eyes narrowed again. “What do you mean _different_?”

“I don’t know,” Tommy shrugged helplessly, which looked pretty ridiculous given the cop get-up he was wearing. “I’m not quite sure how to explain it. Sometimes I think she exists on a completely different planet than everyone else. I mean, you met her at the funeral, didn’t you, Ma?”

“Well, sure,” Gemma shrugged. “But the circumstances weren’t great. And I think I talked to her for about two seconds and then kept my distance out of respect. But hey,” she gestured to her eldest son with a grin, “at least I _went_ to the funeral though, right?”

Jax shifted again from side to side, shooting his mother a dark glare for throwing him under the bus like that. Of course she wouldn’t miss an opportunity to throw in his face what a dickhead he was. He already knew that. Didn’t need the damn reminder.

“Well,” Gemma allowed a little too easily. “What was she doin’ in LA? Where was she workin’?”

Tommy rubbed the back of his neck nervously, and even Jax had to narrow his eyes at that. “She, uh...I’m not really sure what she did.”

Gemma leaned forward like she wasn’t quite sure she’d heard him right. “What do you mean you don’t know? It’s a pretty simple question, Thomas. Where she was workin’ before she came into town last week?”

“I don’t...I don’t think she did,” Tommy winced as the words left his mouth.

Jax lifted his eyebrows, and then rubbed his mouth with a ringed hand to hide his smirk. Oh yeah, Gemma was just going to _love_ this. Tommy’d better hope this panned out at least halfway decent, because if it didn’t, he was going to lose any and every chance he had at ever getting a favor from their mother ever again.

“Of course she didn’t work,” Jax chuckled, shaking his head at his brother. He glanced at Gemma, who was staring at Tommy like she was trying to decide if she wanted to strangle him or commit him to an institution. “Valley girls always live off mommy and daddy’s money, right? Why would she ever need to work before now?”

“Aw, shut up, bro,” Tommy nudged him in the shoulder as he spoke. “Like you know her. And besides, my _wife_ was a Valley girl before she transplanted to Charming. So, what are you tryna say?”

“I’m just sayin’,” Jax held his hands up in defense with a laugh. “It tracks, okay? It fuckin’ tracks. I guess the difference is that your wife and her sister _thought_ they were livin’ off mommy and daddy’s money though, huh?”

At this point, Gemma intervened, clearly more concerned with the obvious matter at hand.

“So you mean to tell me,” Gemma hitched a hand on her hip, eyes narrowed in at Tommy, “that I’m supposed to hire this girl, sight mostly unseen, who’s got zero work experience, which means she’s also got zero skills, just because you want me to?”

Tommy flashed her a wide, goofy grin. “Yep. It would really mean a lot to me if you could help us out this way, and I know it would really mean a lot to Willa too - they’ve gotta start paying some of these bills soon and how is Harper supposed to do that if she doesn’t have a job?”

Gemma glanced at Jax out of the corner of her eye, and he couldn’t hide the amusement on his face. This was just too good...too entertaining...and it wasn’t even noon yet. But, in her general distaste for, and overall sour attitude toward Tommy’s new wife, Gemma had only brought this on herself.

Finally, she seemed to realize her hands were tied.

She pushed out a heavy sigh and threw up her hands in defeat. “Alright, I’ll talk to her. But I’m _not_ making any promises, Tommy. If I interview her and think she’s not gonna be a good fit for the shop, I’m not gonna hire her. We’re runnin’ a business here too, you know.”

Jax could see the wheels in his little brother’s turning - Gemma hadn’t really agreed to what he was asking for, at least not yet. And he could see Tommy working through just how much he wanted to push, and just how far he was willing to stick his neck out for his new sister-in-law, and by extension, his new wife too.

Right about now, Jax really wished he had some popcorn.

“Fine,” Tommy allowed with a sigh, batting his hands at Gemma. “I guess that’s fair.”

“Tell her to drop by the office tomorrow morning at 10. Should be slow with customers, so I can spend some time talkin’ to her then.”

“Alright,” Tommy nodded tightly. “I’ll let her know. Thanks, Ma. I appreciate it.”

“Okay, baby. You know I’m just tryin’ to help.”

He pushed out another heavy sigh as he stepped forward to kiss Gemma on the cheek. “I know, Ma. I gotta get to the station now, but we’ll talk later.”

Then, as he walked away to head toward his squad car, he shifted on his heel to point at Jax, “You better be at my house by 6:30 tonight, on the dot, or I’ll drag you outta the clubhouse if I have to.”

Jax just rolled his eyes, waving goodbye to his brother, still shaking his head at the sight of Tommy getting into that squad car. He didn’t know how many times he’d seen it, but every time, it was still just as jarring as ever. The fact that his brother was a fucking _cop,_ of all the things he could’ve chosen to be in choosing not to turn outlaw, was _still_ a little mind-boggling. But then again, everything had had a way of working itself out, and having a Teller seated in such a prime position in not just local law enforcement, but also within the town itself, had proven to be the gift that just kept on giving.

“I just set myself up for a disaster, didn’t I?” Gemma leaned in to murmur as she watched Tommy pull out of T-M’s lot.

Jax huffed out a laugh. “Sure looks like it, Ma. You just couldn’t say no to him, could you?”

“Well, to be fair, I _usually_ have a hard time saying no to him anyway. And he’s not wrong. I _am_ lookin’ to step back a little - you know that. If I can push some of the bitch work off on someone else, I’m happy to do it.”

“Sure,” he drawled easily, rocking back on his heels a little. “But a Valley girl with no work experience doesn’t exactly sound like an ideal candidate for the job.”

“No,” Gemma allowed with a tight expression on her face. “It does not. Hey, what the hell was that business about dinner?”

Jax just shook his head. “I got guilted into some shit today too. He’s really on a tear right now.”

“Yeah, well, he’s right though,” she sighed wearily. “Neither of us have made much of an effort, and that’s on us. Willa really is goin’ through something right now - the sister is too. If givin’ the sister a job helps some, and if I can make it work, then that’s what I’ll do. It’s probably _all_ I can really do right now anyway. It’s not like I’m gonna be headed over there every night makin’ house calls and droppin’ off casseroles. There’s just...between me and you, there’s just somethin’ about that girl I don’t like. I don’t know what it is, but I know I don’t like it.”

Jax laughed heartily, flashing his mother a wide grin. “Oh, I think I know what it is. Some broad you hardly know, and had zero time to train, scooped up your precious little baby right out from under you. _Of course_ you don’t like her. It’s not rocket science, Ma.”

Gemma just lifted a shoulder. He was right. And they both knew it. She might as well just admit it, even if she was just admitting it to him. And then, when she shifted on her heel, giving Jax a clearer view of the happenings inside the shop’s garage, he caught a glimpse of the old man, his greying hair moving around the garage like nothing was wrong, like everything was perfectly in its place, despite the fact that the club was now down a brother and that was on _his_ hands. As if he could read Jax’s thoughts, Clay’s eyes jerked up from the Pontiac he’d been working on, and Jax held his stare, feeling his blood boil just at the sight of that fucking piece of shit.

He clenched his jaw, and his lips curled back into a snarl as he shifted his gaze back to his mother, who’d quickly put together what was happening right now.

“I thought I told you not to put me on a shift with him,” Jax growled, slicing his gaze back up to Clay, who still stared him down, challenging him, goading him.

“Jax, I -”

“No, Ma, I told you not to put me on a shift with him and I fuckin’ meant it. Don’t ever pull this shit with me again. You meddling like this? You’re not helping - you’re just makin’ it worse.”

Gemma exhaled heavily, running a hand through her dark hair. She glanced over her shoulder at her husband and just shook her head at him. Clay seemed to understand whatever it was she was trying to tell him and he backed off, stalking away from the garage’s entrance and disappearing inside it.

“Jax, at some point -”

“Don’t even go there,” he spat back. “You _know_ what he did. What _Tig_ did. I know you know. Don’t play stupid with me, Ma. The only reason Ope and Donna are in the ground right now is ‘cuz of them and everybody fuckin’ knows it and nobody is fuckin’ doing anything about it.”

“I never said I was happy about it. What happened to Donna...Jax, that tears me apart every time I think about it. And then Ope...that accident was -”

“It wasn’t an accident,” Jax murmured darkly. “There,” he smirked at her. “How do ya like that? I finally said the thing nobody wants to say.”

Opie hadn’t gone out on a stupid accident. He’d been riding since he was 16, and with years of experience on the road under his belt, Opie knew better than anyone how to take a turn, and how not to take a turn, especially when there was oncoming traffic. He’d gone out on his own terms, on his bike, because the club had murdered his wife. Of course, Tig had thought he was really shooting _Opie_ in the head, not Donna. Opie’s wife had only been guilty of being in the wrong place at the time, and the ripple effects of that mistake were never going to go away, especially now that Opie had finished the job for Clay anyway. The club had innocent blood on its hands, and those blood stains weren’t the kind that could just be washed away. 

“Jax,” Gemma sighed. “I really think you should need to sit down and talk -”

“Nah,” Jax shook his head tightly, turning on his heel to start walking toward the garage to punch in for his shift. “I don’t wanna work a shift with him, Ma. I mean it. The only time I wanna have to be around him is when I gotta see him at the table. Other than that, I don’t wanna have anything to do with that son of a bitch.”

And then he had another thought, shifting on his heel one more time so he could point a ringed finger at his mother.

“And just in case it wasn’t clear, Ma,” Jax called over his shoulder. “If you schedule me for another shift with him, I’m not showin’ up for it, and I don’t give a shit if that pisses you off or not. You’re already in hot water with one son the way it is. You wanna piss both of us off to the point where you’re completely cut off? ‘Cuz you’re sure as shit headed that way if you’re not careful.”

He paused long enough to see the truth of those words hit his mother hard enough to make a visible impact, and when she winced, drawing her eyes down to the pavement in resignation, he turned back on his heel and headed into the garage to start his goddamn shift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't wait to get your thoughts on this new story! I know this was a lot of set-up, but it was necessary to establish where the characters are and what's going on right now. Tommy has been a really fun addition to write - it's a lot like writing a whole new character from scratch, and I hope it's already becoming clear what his connection the club really is vs. what he goes home and tells his new wife. 
> 
> Jax is also in a really bad place at the start of this, and he's got a lot on his shoulders right now (that he also isn't handling very well). Right now, he's feeling like Tommy might really be all he's got left, and the only thing really keeping him going. But, I have to say, that his assumptions about Harper aren't fair, especially since Tommy doesn't really know her that well either. She is NOT what they think she is, lol, and she has been a blast to write! She's really a force of nature and Jax will just have absolutely no idea what to do with her.
> 
> I'm going to keep my Wednesday posting schedule with Fly By Night and post this on Sundays. I've already got seven chapters done with this, so I'm feeling like I can do keep that up! I'm looking forward to your thoughts! Thoughts on Tommy? Thoughts on Jax? Predictions for Harper?


	2. Chapter Two

“So why, exactly, is this a thing that we’re doing right now?” Harper asked, tilting her head to the side at her sister as she set another fork down on the table. “I’m  _ pretty _ sure, and I guess I could be wrong...but I’m pretty sure you said Tommy’s brother doesn’t really like you and that you don’t really like Tommy’s brother.”

Willa swept some of her long blonde hair away from her face, shooting Harper a quick look of exasperation. “I  _ know  _ what I said. But Tommy wants everyone to get along. You know how he is.”

Actually, Harper really  _ didn’t  _ know how Tommy was. The first time she’d ever met her sister’s new husband was right after their parents’ car accident three weeks ago, so she only really knew what Willa had told her, and what Willa had told her made Tommy Teller sound like the leading man in a super cheesy, C-list romantic comedy, probably starring someone like Katherine Heigl and that guy from the O.C.

So, needless to say, Tommy Teller also sounded a little too good to be true, but at least Willa seemed really happy. Her sister was also not prone to crazy, life-altering decisions like, for example,  _ marriage _ , without serious thought and consideration. The fact that her usually level-headed older sister had jumped into this so quickly, not to mention completely up-rooting her life in the process to move to a podunk little nothing town like Charming, was just something Harper could not figure out.

But, whatever.

Harper followed her sister’s movements around the kitchen, and had to bite down on her bottom lip to hide a smile. This whole wife thing looked good on Willa. She’d stepped into the role naturally, and pretty easily too, so maybe that meant that, in spite of everything that had happened in their family the last few weeks, there was at least a silver lining somewhere.

“Hey, before I forget,” Willa was saying now as she opened the oven door to check on the chicken. “Tommy texted me earlier today and said you’re all set to go in and talk to his mom tomorrow morning. He said to be there at 10.”

She blew some hair out of her face, and then got back to setting the table, as was requested of her. At this point, it was better to be grateful than anything else. Beggars couldn’t really be choosers, but it also didn’t help that she knew Willa practically shook in her boots whenever her new mother-in-law was brought up in conversation.

“So,” Harper threw out easily, setting down the dinner plates in their spot as she spoke. “Tommy’s mom…”

Willa shot up from where she’d bent over by the oven door, her face pulled tight and anxious just at the mere mention - even though, to be fair, Willa had been the one to bring her up in the first place.

“The dragon lady?” Willa laughed unsteadily. 

Yeah, her attempt at humor here wasn’t fooling anyone in this house right now.

“Yep, that’s the one,” Harper grinned back at her knowingly. “I know things aren’t...super  _ great  _ between you guys, but if I have to go talk to her tomorrow, I mean, what should I say? What should I do?”

Willa just laughed mirthlessly, sweeping some more blonde hair away from her face. “She’s gonna interrogate you to within an inch of your life, so I guess you’d better physically and mentally prepare yourself for that. She’s also probably gonna grill you about, you know...the fact that you’ve never really worked before. So, I guess I’d think about how you want to answer that.”

Harper just shrugged. That wasn’t really an answer to her question.

“Well,” Harper allowed. “It’s not my fault, you know. And I don’t think I should have to apologize to anyone for -”

Willa lifted her eyebrows in amusement. “Getting guy after guy to pay for everything for you? Living off Mom and Dad’s handouts?”

“Hey,” Harper shot back. “Maybe that’s not exactly conventional work experience, but I like to think that’s required a special skill set that a lot of people don’t have.”

Willa’s lips quirked up at her before she dipped down again to pull the roasted chicken out of the oven and then set it on top of the stove. 

“You know,” Willa told her. “That  _ does _ make it sound like you’ve been working the girlfriend experience or something like that. Just so you know…”

Harper just tsked at her, hitching a hand to her hip with a little huff. “That is  _ not  _ what I’ve been doing. I have  _ never  _ been paid explicitly for anything in particular, I’ll have you know, and I’m offended you would even  _ suggest  _ I’d stoop to the  _ gfe _ . Like, seriously and legitimately offended. I just happen to attract men who like to take care of their women. That’s not the same thing, you bitch.”

Willa’s hands shot up in the air, hot pads and all. “Alright, alright. So it’s not the same thing. Fine. But still - you’re rounding up on 30, Harper, and you’ve never held down a real job since you got fired from Express when you were 17, and I don’t know if that really counts as adult work experience anyway.”

With her eyes lifting to the ceiling, Harper just shook her head. “I wasn’t  _ fired,  _ Will. I was  _ let go _ . There’s a pretty big difference. And that manager had no idea what she was doing anyway - you know she put cut-off jeans on a mannequin and tried to tell me that look would actually sell? All I did was fix her mistakes left and right, and I don’t know, maybe I hurt her pride or something.”

“Or something,” Willa smiled before biting down on her bottom lip. 

“But seriously, though, Tommy’s mom didn’t seem  _ that  _ bad at Mom and Dad’s funeral. She was actually pretty nice to me. Is she really that terrible? Or maybe it’s just you?”

Harper knew she’d just said something very, very wrong the second the words left her mouth. Because Willa stilled right where she stood, gripping a wooden spoon in her hand until her knuckles turned white. The one thing Willa hadn’t really talked about much, in between gushing and fawning over her white knight in a uniform, was that white knight’s mother. She’d mentioned the older brother a few more times - mainly that he was a total tool and grumpy all the time and pretty damn unfriendly - but that was really it. That was the extent of what Willa had really said about her new in-laws. And because of  _ that _ , Harper also knew Willa was holding back and not because she thought they were the greatest in-laws ever in the history of amazingly great in-laws.

“Gemma is…” Willa tried out, and then pushed out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know. Everytime I see her, she just always looks at me like I’ve committed highway robbery or something. She’s just got these dark, shark-like eyes that scare the  _ shit  _ of me. Like she’s looking deep into my soul and doesn’t like what she sees. You know what I mean?”

“Uh huh,” Harper nodded helpfully. “Sure, sure. But I mean, to be fair, you  _ did  _ sorta run off with her son without telling anyone after, like, what? Four months of screwing him silly? That’s not really  _ dating,  _ Will, and that probably wasn’t going to start you off on the right foot with her either.”

Willa’s eyebrows lifted high into her forehead. “Um, excuse me? Whose side are you on here?”

“Yours!” Harper’s hands shot up in the air. “Always yours!”

Her sister opted to shoot her a glare and then top off her wine glass. At least she had the good sense to top Harper’s off too. It looked like they were both going to need the alcohol tonight. But then, Willa grabbed her wine glass and took three long gulps, finishing it off, and then just refilled it again for the third time since she put the chicken in the oven.

Harper lifted her eyebrows warily at her older sister, choosing to chew on the inside of her cheek instead of opening her mouth again. She’d messed up pretty badly the last time. Even if what she said  _ had  _ been true about Tommy’s mom, that didn’t change the fact that her loyalties would always and forever be firmly with Team Willa.

“I guess,” Willa allowed before taking another long gulp from her wine glass. “You might be right, from a certain point of view. But just because Tommy and I spent most of our time in bed before we got married doesn’t mean we weren’t dating, you know.”

“Whatever you say,” Harper grinned and then bit down on her bottom lip. “Hey, if I were you, I probably would’ve done the same thing.  _ Don’t  _ take that the wrong way, though. I just get it, is all,” she gestured to the framed photo sitting on a shelf next to the table with a grin, “I mean... _ look _ at that guy. He’s like Garrett Hedlund in a uniform or something. That’s who you married, Will.”

She dipped a little lower to get a better look at the framed photo. Tommy was right in the middle, with his older brother on the left, and some other guy on the right, and all three had their arms slung around each other’s shoulders with wide, happy grins on their handsome faces. Then she glanced back at her sister with a sly smirk.

“Must be something in the genes,” Harper called out over her shoulder as her eyes dropped back to the photo. “The teddy bear on the right is cute and all, but those two brothers are hottie boom bodies like I’ve never seen before.”

Willa couldn’t even accuse her of exaggeration because it was  _ true.  _ The Teller brothers were out of this world attractive, so attractive, in fact, that Harper wondered how those two went anywhere in town without women flinging their panties at them like it was going out of style. And maybe they did, considering the reputation the brothers seemed to have with women around town - a reputation that was one more thing Willa also seemed to be willfully ignoring about her new husband.

“I mean, if Tommy has the blonde all-American, clean-cut man in a uniform thing going for him, then his brother has the market cornered on that blonde bad boy in leather thing,” Harper grinned, gesturing to the photo again. “The Kurt Cobain flannel and hair I could do without though - not a fan of that 90s,  _ grunge  _ look. But, that being said, I bet he’s got  _ lots _ of tattoos in all  _ kinds _ of fun places.”

Willa just rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s about  _ all  _ Jax has going for him,” and then her voice dropped a little, “and hey, don’t mention anything about the other guy in that picture with them tonight, okay?”

“Oh,” Harper frowned. “Is that the one who…”

Willa just nodded tersely, and then took another big gulp from her wine glass. Harper winced a little but knew her sister well enough to know when to leave well enough alone. There’d been enough death around them in the last few weeks to last a whole lifetime, and the last thing Harper wanted to do was linger on it.

Their parents were gone. One of Tommy’s oldest and closest friends had died just a few days before them. And apparently, his wife had died just a few weeks before  _ that _ too. People seemed to be dropping like flies here in Charming. Kinda made her wonder if she was really making the right choice in sticking around.

Like she could read her thoughts, Willa set her wine glass down, stepped around the counter, and took Harper by the hand.

“Hey,” Willa whispered softly. “I’m really glad you’re here and that you decided to stay. I need you, and I think you need me too, even if it’s hard for you to admit that kinda thing. Maybe everything just has a way of working itself out, right?”

So, what Willa was really saying was that maybe it was somehow meant to be that Harper had walked in on one of her supposed best friends getting railed by her now ex-fiance from behind on their bed. That seemed to be about it. At first, she’d thrown everything she could find, smashed everything she could smash, tore apart everything that could be torn apart. Then she’d packed as many belongings into her suitcases as she could, hopped into her car, and drove to her sister’s new house with her new husband.

That was a week ago, and she still hadn’t cried. She also had yet to cry for her parents. Maybe it was just hard to cry for or about people that could write her off so easily. Besides, her relationship with their parents had been wildly different than the one Willa had had with them. Where Willa was the perpetual good girl with the perpetual good girl lifestyle that had pleased their parents endlessly, Harper had the misfortune of actually choosing to live her life the way she wanted, not the way their parents wanted, and that had led to many fights and many, many unpleasant family holidays. It wasn’t that much different with Eddie - God, what kind of asshole was named  _ Eddie _ anymore these days? She should’ve known better than to attach herself to a hedge fund manager named Eddie.

Her mistake. And lesson learned.

Now, with no other real options in front of her at the moment, she was here in Charming for the foreseeable future. With all the drama surrounding her parents’ death, it just made more sense to be closer anyway - the work they had to do was nowhere near finished, starting with getting their parents’ house ready to sell, and now they were staring down a mountain of crushing debt they may never get out from under. All those handouts she’d gotten from her parents over the years, as Willa liked to call them, had now come with receipts and the sticker shock from those receipts had almost given her a legitimate and actual heart attack. So if she had no other options than to stay in Charming, then she truly had to pull up the sides of her thigh-high skinny boots and earn a paycheck - there was no way she was saddling Willa with the burden of that debt all on her own.

And at the end of the day, she really did like being closer to Willa again. They’d gone from being 10 minutes away to hours away from each other pretty much the minute Tommy came into the picture, and she hadn’t realized how much she’d taken that proximity for granted until it was gone.

But all that being said, she knew exactly what it said about her - the fact that she hadn’t cried for any of them yet. Not her ex-fiance. Not her mom. Not her dad. Willa seemed to cry at the drop of a hat lately. She was just sort of... _ numb  _ to everything that had happened in these last few weeks. She supposed she’d have to make her peace with the fact that she was a cold-hearted bitch sooner or later, hopefully later.

“Well,” Harper allowed with a tight smile. “You’re right. I  _ am  _ glad I’m here. I  _ will  _ find a way to make it work. And now, it can be just like old times again, right? You’re even closer than you were when we were in LA - you’re, like, within  _ walking  _ distance now, not like I’d walk around here for very long by myself anyway, but you know what I mean.”

That seemed to pull Willa out of her funk a little and she laughed as she pulled the baked potatoes out of the oven and set them on the counter next to the roasted chicken.

“Charming isn’t as bad or as boring as you think it is,” Willa told her tactfully. “Mom and Dad didn’t have any problems all the years they lived here.”

“Well, maybe that’s true,” Harper just shrugged. “It buys me some time, anyway. Once we sell Mom and Dad’s house, though, I don’t know...I guess I’ll have to go apartment shopping? Is that even a thing people do around here or are they all just living in clubhouses or shacking up with the chief of police?”

Willa rolled her eyes as she wiped her hands on a kitchen towel. “Tommy and I aren’t  _ shacking up.  _ We’re married.”

“Uh huh,” Harper pointed a finger at her from across the kitchen. “And while we’re on that subject, you should know I’m still not okay with being denied the opportunity to plan the bachelorette party of the century for you. You remember the party I planned for Brittany Snow last year? At that cute little island right by the Bahamas? I mean, nothing was illegal there.  _ Nothing _ . I wanted that for you, Will. I wanted that for you  _ so  _ bad.”

Willa pushed out a heavy sigh and shook her head. “I know, I know. It took me, like, a whole month to recover from that weekend. And, to be fair, I think it would go a long way with Tommy’s mom if we did... _ something _ . Like throw a reception party or even a vow renewal, but then again, I know she’d want to have it at the clubhouse, which is not exactly my ideal party venue, if you know what I mean, and I don’t really want to have that particular conversation with her right now.”

Harper wiggled her shoulders excitedly at her sister. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m here then. You just say the word, Will, and your very own personal party planning committee - meaning me - will take over and plan the reception party of your dreams.”

“I trust you not to give into her demands about the clubhouse,” Willa cocked an eyebrow at her. “But then you will also incur a wrath the likes of which you’ve never seen before.”

“Please,” Harper just swept some of her long and curly balayaged hair back with a practiced flourish. “She’s not  _ my  _ mother-in-law, and if someone has to deal with her, I guess it’s better me than you, right?”

Harper had never really visited Charming long enough for it to make any kind of real impression on her, other than being around plenty long enough to hear some town gossip, and that gossip usually revolved around the Teller brothers, and on occasion, their dragon lady of a mother. The gossip mostly revolved around the motorcycle club they were directly, and in-directly, associated with and whatever scandalous shenanigans  _ the club  _ had gotten into that week. And, of course, the occasional incident where Gemma Teller-Morrow was doing things like smashing people’s faces in with a skateboard. If anything, that just made Harper wonder what a person would have to do to get their face smashed in by a person like her. 

And while she’d lived in LA her entire life, at least up until now, her parents had decided to move to Charming about 10 years ago, which also happened to be her dad’s hometown and the current and forever residence of his younger sister, Maggie. At that point, since Harper and Willa were old enough to decide to stay in LA on their own, their parents “retired” back to her dad’s hometown to be closer to his sister, who spent more time in the clubhouse than anyone else they knew who  _ wasn’t  _ a member of the club. Which reminded her…

“Hey, Will?”

“Yeah?”

“So the clubhouse...have you ever been in it before?”

Willa lifted her eyes to the ceiling again. “Only once. And once was enough.”

“But Tommy goes there all the time though, right?”

Her sister’s brown eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Yes. What’s your point?”

“All I’m saying is...don’t you think it’s weird that the chief of police is associated with a motorcycle club like that? I mean, I get that his dad started it or whatever, but he’s a  _ cop _ , and not just any cop either. Isn’t it weird that he hangs around them the way he does?”

“I don’t know,” Willa shrugged a little too easily. “That’s his family too. He grew up around them all and has known them his entire life. I don’t think it’s fair to assume that just because they’re a motorcycle club they’re doing illegal things all the time...besides, Tommy would never associate with them like that if they  _ were _ doing those kinds of things. He loves his job too much to jeopardize it like that, you know?”

There was something about all of this that just didn’t feel quite right. Something Harper couldn’t quite put her finger on but didn’t like. Willa seemed pretty willing to just look the other way at things about her new husband she either didn’t understand or didn’t know, which was a red flag if Harper had ever seen one, because her sister was one of the most straight-laced, so by-the-book-it-was-boring person she’d ever met. Besides, she’d seen a whole long row of rough-looking Mexican bikers riding around in their leather cut-off jackets in Lodi when she’d been on the hunt for an off-market, back alley Dolce & Gabbana crocodile handbag a few years ago.

Those bikers gave off the exact same vibes as the ones she’d seen riding around Charming - a little menacing, a little dangerous, and a whole lot like they were all up to no good. It had taken all of two seconds on Google to figure out what the one-percenter patch meant that she’d seen on those Mexican bikers’ jackets in Lodi. Further googling had informed her that those leather cut-off jackets were also called  _ kuttes _ , or whatever. The Sons of Anarchy, or maybe they were just called Samcro? Either way...the bikers Willa’s new husband was associated with, whether by choice or by family, wore the exact same one-percenter patch on  _ their  _ kuttes too. So, the fact that Tommy’s dad had founded the club, his step-dad was the current president, and his older brother was the vice president, but Tommy wasn’t even a  _ member _ …how that  _ didn’t  _ spark a million questions for Willa was beyond her.

Harper had only been officially in town a week, and those questions had been popping up all over the place. And her very first question would be what, exactly, was the relationship between the Charming PD and the club? And her second, which maybe should be the first, was why in the world would Tommy, who’d grown up around the club his entire life, choose a career path that would continuously put him at odds with the people he considered family if he  _ wasn’t  _ working all the angles? It just didn’t make sense, especially since it seemed like Tommy was really close with his brother, and everyone else in the club, and it also seemed like his chosen career path had caused zero tension in the family.

But if Willa preferred ignorance over information, then Harper figured that was her decision, and also her problem to deal with.

It didn’t help that their parents had never really said much about the club, one way or the other, and that probably had something to do with the fact that their dad was notoriously protective of their aunt, who practically lived at the clubhouse.

“Okay,” Harper allowed with a smile. “I’m sure you’re right, Will.”

Willa pressed a tight smile on her face that  _ maybe  _ said otherwise, but at this point, it was better to just leave it alone. If she was going to be in this podunk, little nothing of a town indefinitely, at least it seemed like some interesting things happened around here from time to time.

And then, Willa cut into the chicken, which was still sitting in the roasting pan, and screamed.

Harper just about dropped her wine glass in her rush to scurry into the kitchen, her eyes widening when she realized what Willa was desperately pointing at.

“Oh no,” Willa cried. “Oh  _ no _ !” Her eyes flew to the clock by the stove, and she started shaking her head furiously. “Oh my God, they’re going to be here any minute! What the hell am I gonna do, Harper?”

As if on cue, the loud rumble of a motorcycle engine bounced off the walls, just getting louder and louder with every second that passed. Harper hurried over to the window by the living room, pulling down a few blinds to see a guy with overly long blonde hair in a familiar black leather kutte swinging his leg over the side of his very impressive motorcycle, as a squad car pulled into the driveway right alongside him.

“Oh my God,” Willa called out from the kitchen. “They’re  _ here _ , aren’t they? They’re both here.”

“Um,” Harper winced. “Yes?”

Willa covered her face with both hands as Harper jumped into action, trying to take stock of the status of the roasted chicken, which was almost completely red right in the middle where Willa had just cut it.

“Oh no, oh no,” Willa mumbled into her hands. “I wanted this night to be perfect. I wanted  _ dinner  _ to be perfect. I wanted everyone to have a good time and get along and for everything to be  _ fine,  _ and now I fucked it up before it even started.”

“No, you didn’t,” Harper soothed her. “How long did you have it in before, Will?”

“I don’t know,” Willa cried. “I...I think an hour? Something like that?”

“Okay, okay,” Harper nodded. “That’s fine. Let’s just put it back in the oven, I’ll google how much longer we should put it in for and everything will be fine. We can sit and talk, have some more wine, the guys can have a beer or whatever, and everything will be fine.”

Willa nodded furiously, wiping away a stray tear, and in her rush, she grabbed the roasting pan with both hands, and no hot pads, and lifted it off the counter, only for the pan to tumble out of her hands two seconds later, with the entire contents of the pan spilling out onto the floor. Willa screamed, sinking to her knees in devastation, and all Harper could do was stand a few feet off to the side, with both hands covering her mouth in horror.

Heavy footsteps filled the thick air in the kitchen as the side door from the garage burst open. Tommy sprinted into the kitchen with his brother right behind him, only for them both to skid to a stop the second they got a good look at what was really happening. And, true to form, Willa also burst into tears the second she made eye contact with her husband.

“I’m sorry,” Willa murmured heavily through her tears, picking up a piece of broken chicken skin with her fist and throwing it at the oven. “I’m sorry, Tommy. I wanted to...I tried so hard, Tommy, and look at this!”

Tommy stood frozen to the tile floor beneath his feet, his eyes wide with shock. His brother hadn’t fared any better, staying right behind Tommy and looking like a deer caught in headlights.

“Mom never would’ve messed up this way,” Willa shook her head furiously. “Right, Harper? She  _ never  _ would’ve screwed up this badly. Oh my God, I just wanted this night to go well, and what the fuck do I do? I fucking drop the chicken!”

At that, Harper dropped to her knees to help her sister scoop up the remnants of the chicken that had smashed on the floor back into the pan. 

“It’s okay, Will,” Harper murmured soothingly. “We’ll figure it out. It’s fine. This is no big deal.”

“You know,” a deep, husky voice called out from the hallway. “We can do this some other time. I’ll just -”

“No!” Willa’s head shot up, pointing a finger furiously at Tommy’s brother, who’d already started to backpedal down the hallway. “You’re not going anywhere, Jax. You’re going to stay  _ right  _ here! And we’re going to have dinner! You wanna know why?”

Jax’s dark blonde eyebrows flew up into his forehead, mimicking the way his hands shot up in the air in defense. But Willa didn’t give him the opportunity to answer her.

“Because this is all for  _ you _ ,” Willa spat at him. “This is all to impress  _ you _ , you big jerk! So you’re staying for dinner whether you like it or not!”

Jax swallowed hard, glancing at Tommy warily, who just shook his head at his older brother. At least he seemed to realize that  _ none  _ of them were getting out of this dinner tonight. His backpedalling had stilled, but his feet were rooted right at the edge of the hallway and the kitchen, careful to keep his distance where he knew he really wasn’t wanted anyway. Harper glanced up at Tommy worriedly, but found him with his eyes locked on his wife like he didn’t quite recognize the person sitting in his kitchen right now. Then, a beat later, he sprung into action, kneeling down next to Willa to help Harper throw the ruined chicken back into the pan.

“It’s okay, baby,” Tommy told her as soon as the remnants of the chicken were cleaned up, and he put a comforting hand on her back. “This isn’t a big deal. We’ll just order a pizza, okay?”

Then he looked expectantly to Jax and Harper, “Pizza’s fine, right, guys?”

Both Jax and Harper nodded immediately, their eyes still wide and fixed right on Willa, who still had tears streaming down her face. And then, when Jax shifted back into the hallway to put more distance between himself and the drama happening in the kitchen, Willa’s attention sliced back up to her brother-in-law.

“I bet you’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” Willa laughed, pointing a finger at him again. “I bet you can’t wait to go running to your mom and tell her what an epic failure this was and how  _ useless  _ I am, right? That’s what you guys really think of me anyway, isn’t it?”

_ Oh boy _ . Harper’s eyes only widened and she winced as Willa’s words hit home. The only real surprise to anyone in this kitchen right now was that Willa had actually said the words out loud. 

“Hey, Willa,” Jax tried again, his hands still up in the air in defense with wide blue eyes that matched his brother’s. “I’m sorry if I -”

“Oh, save it, Jax,” Willa cut in sharply, even as Tommy put a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down. “I know you don’t like me. I know you don’t like that Tommy married me. And I  _ know  _ you think the only reason Tommy married me is because you thought I was pregnant. Well, you wanna know what?”

“Willa -” Tommy warned her lowly as Jax’s eyes just seemed to pop out of his head even more.

“I  _ was _ ,” Willa murmured angrily, wiping some tears away with the back of her hand. “So there you go. You were  _ all  _ right about me, weren’t you?”

Harper inhaled sharply, her eyes wide as her hands flew back up to cover her mouth. Her gaze lifted to Jax, who had stilled in his spot in the hallway, looking like someone just dumped a bucket of ice water over his head.

“Willa,” Harper whispered desperately, tears pricking the back of her eyes in a way that shocked her. 

Suddenly, Tommy whipped around and jabbed a finger at his brother, who still hadn’t moved from that spot in the hallway. “If you tell anyone, Jax, I swear to God -”

“I won’t, bro,” Jax lifted his hands again, wincing as he spoke. “I’ll take it to the grave, I swear.”

“You’d fuckin’ better,” Tommy snapped at him. 

Harper chose to just ignore that exchange between the two brothers for now, focusing on her sister instead. With tears still streaming down her face, and with no prayer of them stopping anytime soon, and still crouched down on her knees on the kitchen floor, Willa was a hot mess. All Harper could do was put her arms around her sister but that only seemed to exacerbate Willa’s tears.

“I’m sorry, Tommy,” Willa whispered to her husband, and then she shook her head at Harper. “We weren’t gonna tell anyone right away because we knew what everyone would think and then...after it was just  _ gone,  _ I  _ really  _ didn’t want anyone to know.”

“It’s okay,” Harper murmured to her. “I get it. You don’t have to apologize for anything.”

Willa nodded helplessly, looking to Tommy again, whose face twisted with the pain and shared grief of what they’d lost, and what they’d also kept secret from everyone around them for their own reasons. They’d had every right to make that choice, but Harper couldn’t help but feel even more devastated for her sister the more she thought about it. She’d lost so much all in the span of two months... a baby  _ and _ both her parents. Throw a pair of shitty, disrespectful, and insensitive in-laws in the mix and this was all a recipe for disaster. No wonder Willa was losing her shit right now. No fucking wonder.

And now, Harper lifted her eyes to Tommy’s brother, and directed her animosity for the situation they were all in tonight right at the source of this disaster. If he’d just been  _ a little  _ bit nice to Willa, a little bit welcoming, and willing to give her a little bit of room to figure out her new life, maybe they wouldn’t all be here in this kitchen right now, dealing with a freak-out of epic proportions.

“Hey,” Harper offered as she got up to her feet. “Why don’t I go order the pizza?”

And then, Tommy and Willa could have a little bit of time here, too, without an audience and without any judgment, so Willa could pull herself together long enough to get through the rest of this dumpster fire of a dinner party.

Tommy just nodded to her, his blue eyes shining with gratitude, as he pulled Willa into his arms. Harper took that as her cue to get the hell out of there, and after squeezing her sister’s shoulder one more time, she straightened her flowy peasant dress and side-stepped around some stray chicken bones to move out of the kitchen.

When she brushed past Jax, whose wide eyes were still fixed on the couple embracing on the kitchen floor, she shifted on her heel to look back at him with a huff of exasperation. When he  _ still  _ didn’t get the hint, she tugged impatiently on his flannel sleeve.

“Come on,” Harper chided him with a low whisper. “You really wanna stay in here right now?”

His eyebrows lifted into his forehead, but when his gaze drifted back to Tommy and Willa, he blew out a long, heavy sigh before turning on his heel to follow her down the hallway and out to the garage. They speed walked through the garage in silence until they were standing right in front of the bike and the squad car parked in the driveway. And then, just as Harper got ready to do the thing they’d really come out here to do, she remembered.

“Shit,” she exhaled in frustration. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought the urge to stomp her foot. “I left my phone inside,” and then she glanced at Jax, who’d busied himself with lighting up a cigarette. “Could you order the pizza? You know where to order from better than I would anyway.”

He just smirked at her, digging through a pocket inside his kutte before wagging an ancient-looking flip phone in the air. “Sorry, darlin’, but I don’t have pizza joints saved as contacts in my phone and I don’t exactly have an internet browser on it either.”

Harper’s eyes narrowed at the thing in his hand and crinkled her nose at it. “What the  _ hell  _ is that?”

Jax glanced at his phone with a shrug. “My prepay?”

His  _ prepay _ ? 

Yeah,  _ that  _ definitely wasn’t sketchy or anything.

She’d needed to use a prepay phone before too - although it had been an actual smartphone, albeit a small one, not a stupid relic like the one Jax was holding. But her prepay had come in handy that time she’d needed to phone a friend from Tijuana when she may or may not have had an issue with her passport - but she’d  _ also  _ never tell anyone where she’d hidden that prepay when border patrol brought her in for questioning. 

So, if anyone tried to convince her that the vice president of a one-percenter motorcycle club  _ wasn’t  _ using a prepaid phone for anything other than to evade things like tracing and phone records, she’d never believe them.

“Right,” she smiled knowingly. “Your prepay _.  _ No one uses those things anymore, you know, especially not ones like  _ that. _ ”

Well, no one used ones like  _ that  _ unless they cared more about staying under the radar than things like style and function. But, given who she was standing next to, she also wasn’t going to share that knowledge with him either.

“Well,” he smirked back at her again, which maybe would’ve been more attractive if not for the nasty purple bruises and the ugly black eye, “I guess I’d have to care about that, wouldn’t I? And I don’t.”

“Great,” she shot back. “I guess I’m on my own then. Thanks for your help.”

His low chuckle followed her all the way through the garage, but she powered through it, tiptoeing back through the hallway again, and wincing at the low murmurs and quiet sobs she heard coming from the kitchen.

“It’s okay, baby,” Tommy was whispering to Willa, “I’m here. I know...I know.”

She did her best to avert her eyes, keeping her gaze as far away from the kitchen as she could, mumbling, “ _ Sorry, _ ” under her breath as she fumbled through her purse for her phone, and then hightailed it back down the hallway as fast as her feet could carry her. By the time she got back out to the driveway, Jax was already in the process of lighting up another cigarette.

So, he was a chainsmoker too, on top of being the vice president of a one-percenter motorcycle club who also happened to be sporting some pretty nasty facial bruises - sorta like the ones she’d seen on Tommy earlier this week too. Willa, of course, had explained away the bruises on her husband’s face as just a  _ hazard of his job.  _ Which could be true. It really could be. But, given the fact that Jax’s bruising and knuckles looked an awful lot like Tommy’s had looked and  _ still  _ kinda looked, Harper also had a pretty good feeling it maybe, probably, most likely  _ wasn’t  _ true.

Guys who looked too good to be true usually were. Like Tommy, who for all his wholesome, nice guy tendencies, was clearly and very obviously keeping some very big secrets from her sister. And like Tommy’s brother, who for all his swagger and panty-dropping smirks, was also appraising her now with the same judgment she was sure he’d also used on her sister the first time he met her. Guys like the Teller brothers, who clearly relied on their looks and their charm to skate by through life, weren’t all that different from her and her own life choices, from a certain point of view. But at least she never bullshitted or judged anyone like a goddamn hypocrite.

If given the choice between the two, she figured she’d probably be more willing to trust Jax, but that was only as far as she could throw him. At least  _ he  _ didn’t seem to be playing any games or pulling any punches, figuratively speaking, unlike his silver-tongued little brother. That being said, it was also very possible that those silver-tongued tendencies ran in the family as well, just like their looks.

“So,” Harper huffed at him. “Could you at least throw out a pizza place or two that would deliver here? And, you know, actually  _ help _ ?”

Jax’s eyebrows lifted into his forehead again and then he tipped his head back to blow out a long stream of smoke. “A’ight. I guess you could give Tino’s a call. They’re pretty good. Or Christiano’s. Either one.”

“Fine. Whatever,” Harper shot back, punching Tino’s into a quick Google search, and then hit the link to the phone number that popped up in her search to make the call. After putting in their order, she hit the end button on her phone, and shot Jax a spiteful grin. “See how easy that was? It’s amazing what modern technology can do these days.”

Jax eyed her warily as he tucked some of that long, Kurt Cobain blonde hair behind his ear. God, he was nice to look at though, bruises and black eye and all.  _ Really  _ nice to look at. It was almost too bad because he was an absolute jerk and had treated her sister like a second-class citizen from day one.

“Well,” he was smirking at her again now as he flicked some ash from his cigarette. “I don’t need to be, say, facetiming Paris Hilton or anything like that, so I think I’m good with my choice in technology.”

“ _ Please _ ,” Harper batted a hand at him with a laugh. “Nobody talks to Paris anymore.”

Jax’s blue eyes narrowed carefully and he sucked in a steady breath as his stark appraisal of her continued. “A’ight. Kim Kardashian then.”

“The Kardashian-Jenner mafia isn’t really talking to  _ me  _ anymore, so I don’t think I’d be facetiming any of them anytime soon,” she explained easily, grinning at the way his eyes only seemed to narrow deeper into tiny, suspicious blue slits the longer she spoke. “I mean, I made  _ one  _ little comment on Instagram about how Kendall’s thigh gap  _ sort of  _ looked airbrushed, and suddenly I’m persona non grata _. _ You’d think they’d invest in a Photoshop class or two with the way they screw up the editing on their social media posts. But noooo, somehow it’s all my fault that it was suddenly trending on Instagram  _ and  _ Twitter for, like, an hour at best because I just  _ pointed it out _ , and now I can’t get an invite to Khloe’s Halloween party again to save my life. Those sisters are really fickle bitches, you know?”

He didn’t respond, choosing instead to let his chest heave a little underneath his leather kutte, and letting his gaze drift up and down the length of her with annoyance and irritation slipping across his handsome, battered face. A few moments later, he flicked his spent cherry out into the pavement - Willa was really going to  _ love  _ seeing the cigarette buds on the driveway tomorrow morning - and then reached inside his kutte again for his cigarette pack. When he slipped one out of the pack, she tipped her chin to him.

“Could I bum one of those or are you planning on smoking that whole pack out here in one sitting?”

Jax’s eyebrows flicked into his forehead in surprise, but he obliged her, holding out the pack to her so she could take one, and then offering out the open flame from his lighter so she could light it up. She inhaled in one big pull, closing her eyes at the feel of that sweet nicotine rush through her senses and calming the anxiety creeping through her the longer they stood out here, and the longer she didn’t know what was going on inside that kitchen.

“In my defense,” Jax called out to her lightly. “I don’t normally smoke  _ quite  _ like this all the time,” and then he hooked a thumb behind his shoulder, “I mean...that took a pretty dark turn in there pretty quick, didn’t it? If that’s not a cause for a few cigarettes, then I don’t know what is.”

“Well,” Harper smiled ruefully. “Maybe if my sister didn’t feel so backed into a corner by your family, that wouldn’t have happened.”

Once again, Jax’s eyebrows quirked into his forehead like he couldn’t quite believe she was talking to him this way, or any way for that matter. “That what she told you?”

“She didn’t have to. And the little she  _ has  _ said kinda makes you guys seem like you never really gave her much of a chance. But what do I know?”

His eyes dropped to the pavement as he rocked back on his heels, rubbing a spot on the left side of his chest with a wince, and so she waited. And waited. And waited. But he never admitted it. Never fessed up to what they both knew was true: he’d been a total and complete asshole. At this point, she’d be surprised if he planned on changing course anytime soon, even in light of the day’s revelation. And at this point, she also didn’t really see the need to go out of her way to be nice to  _ him  _ either because she was always and forever on Team Willa.

Jax rubbed a hand over his mouth, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye with a heavy sigh. “So, I hear you’re interviewing with my mom at the shop tomorrow.”

“Yep.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her with another panty-dropping smirk. “Where were you workin’ before you blew into town last week?”

“You mean, after I walked in on my ex-fiance screwing one of my best friends in our bed?”

There. Let’s see how he liked  _ that _ . And he didn’t disappoint, with his eyebrows leaping high into his forehead, and his lips parting enough to  _ almost  _ send the cigarette in his mouth tumbling to the pavement. But then he recovered almost as quickly, righting that cigarette in between his lips with his tongue and huffing out a laugh.

“You know,” he laughed again. “I think that sounds about right.”

“Mmmkay,” Harper snarked back. “And to answer your question, I wasn’t.”

“Wasn’t what?”

She inhaled sharply. “I  _ wasn’t  _ working before I  _ blew into town  _ last week.”

Then she left it at that, staring back at him in challenge.  _ Go ahead, Tommy’s stupid brother,  _ she thought rueffully,  _ go ahead and ask me to elaborate. _

But in that moment, he seemed to realize he was already wading through some pretty personal territory with someone he’d just met, and maybe even a vice president of a one-percenter motorcycle club who chain-smoked and was in desperate need of a style update had enough tact and enough self-awareness to realize when to live and let die.

“So,” Harper threw out with a sly smirk as she took another pull from her cigarette. “Any sage words of advice for my interview tomorrow? You know, seeing as how I was jobless before now, but I feel like you probably knew that already.”

Now, Jax’s eyes narrowed again and she didn’t really like the way his eyes dropped to her bare legs. As if that was the only part of her that was actually appealing to him. So, it was really no surprise when he flicked some more ash from his cigarette and his eyes lifted back up to her with that familiar annoyance and irritation flickering across his face.

“Nevermind,” Harper just batted a hand at him. “If I can handle that Saudi prince’s  _ entire  _ protection detail in one sitting, I’m  _ pretty  _ sure I can handle my sister’s mother-in-law.”

Jax eyed her carefully, squinting at her ever so slightly before barking out a sharp laugh. “That’s funny,” and then he wagged a ringed finger at her, “You say that like it’s actually  _ true _ .”

Harper just frowned back at him with a shrug. “It is.”

He shot her a wary glance, shaking his head as his jaw ticked into a tight, annoyed line. “It’s not.”

“Why would I lie about something like that?” she shot back. “That would be a really stupid thing to lie about.”

“Yeah,” his eyebrows quirked again in irritation. “It  _ is  _ a really stupid thing to lie about. What, are you like, some kinda compulsive liar or somethin’? Some kinda celebrity wannabe who’s only sorta important by being celebrity adjacent - if any of that shit you just spun for me before is actually true, which it’s  _ not _ .”

“You’re awfully judgey,” Harper told him snidely. “I missed the part where I needed to explain myself to you.”

“Just callin’ it like I see it, princess. And you,” he pointed another ringed finger at her, “are a liar.”

She felt her lips curling back into a passive-aggressive snarl. “Asking someone if they’re a compulsive liar isn’t exactly the best way to find out if they’re lying.  _ But _ , I only lie when I need to talk my way out of something, like that time my ex-boyfriend Zayn left his mushrooms in my car and I got arrested. Or, I guess, when I need to talk my way  _ into  _ something, like that time I said I was Sophie Turner’s second personal assistant so I could get backstage at a Jonas Brothers concert - which, honestly, really wasn’t worth the effort.”

Jax watched her with an impassive mask, but his nostrils flared with irritation until he jerked a hand her way. “ _ Bullshit _ , sweetheart. That’s all pure  _ bullshit _ .”

“It is  _ not _ . Besides, I bet you don’t even know who Sophie Turner  _ is.” _

His eyebrows lifted with some amusement. “Doesn’t matter. You’re a fuckin’ liar and you know it.”

Harper huffed in exasperation. She just didn’t understand why this concept was so difficult for him to grasp. He didn’t even  _ know _ her.

“I told you - I only lie when I need to. And I have no reason or need to lie to you. What could I possibly have to gain by lying right now - to _you_ , of all people?”

“So you’re an  _ honest  _ liar, huh?” he folded his arms across his chest, tilting his head to the side with a cocky smirk playing on his lips. “A’ight, I’ll bite. Where’d you meet this Saudi prince then?”

“On a flight from Mykonos to London.”

He exhaled exasperatedly, eyeing her like he was about ready to lean over and strangle her. “What the  _ fuck _ were you doin’ on a flight from Mykonos to London?”

“Um,” she blinked back at him. “I wanted to go to  _ London _ ? Isn’t that obvious?”

At this point, he set his cigarette in between his teeth, moving it left and right with his tongue as he studied her carefully, his navy blue eyes squinting at her and hardening with each second that ticked by.

“You know,” Harper informed him as she took another long pull from her own cigarette. “Just because your whole world revolves around this teeny tiny little town and your bike and your shop and your motorcycle club -”

“What do  _ you  _ know about the club?” he cut in hotly, his face tightening in a way that made her take a tiny step away from him.

“Well,” Harper laughed bitterly. “I can tell you I definitely don’t know anymore than my sister, who knows absolutely nothing because your brother has her convinced he’s the Ryan Gosling to her Emma Stone.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“You know  _ exactly  _ what I mean,” she stared back at him like he was an idiot, because he was. “Sweeping her off her feet? Tricking her into believing every word he says with his golden god dick? Come on, really?”

Jax’s blue eyes narrowed dangerously. “I don’t appreciate what you’re implying. You know my brother about as well as you know any fucking celebrity. And maybe you’ve got this all wrong, princess, and my  _ brother  _ is the one who got taken for a ride by your sister and her honey pot pussy.”

“Okay, first of all, I have a name and I’d appreciate it if you’d use it. I am  _ not  _ a princess, despite the very  _ real _ , very rich Saudi prince I dated for like, half a regime change two years ago.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Jax muttered under his breath, spiking his spent cigarette into the pavement with a little more aggression than she cared to see.

“And second of all,” she jabbed a finger at him now. “I don’t appreciate you referring to my sister as  _ pussy  _ and I certainly don’t appreciate you implying she honey-potted him into anything when  _ he’s  _ the one who obviously told her whatever she needed to hear so she doesn’t ask too many questions and so she just plays the part of the good little police chief wife.”

“The fuck?” Jax snarled. “You wanna elaborate on that? Or maybe you wanna think a little more carefully about the next lie you throw at me?”

And it was at this point that she realized she’d maybe pushed him too far. Because she had more than enough self-awareness to know that the man standing next to her clearly felt he didn’t need to abide by the law, not in spite of, but  _ because  _ his brother was the chief of police. That also made him a pretty dangerous person to be standing next to, especially when she was standing here next to him throwing around accusations about his little brother, even if those accusations were  _ true. _

“I’m just saying,” Harper told him, this time in a calmer, more even tone. “I know my sister, and I know she’d never trick anyone into anything, and she’d definitely never get pregnant on purpose to trap anyone either. And if  _ that’s  _ what you think, then you don’t deserve to know her.”

His lips lifted into a bitter smirk. “Okay, keep tellin’ yourself whatever helps you sleep at night, especially if that means you have to tell yourself that Willa  _ isn’t  _ leading Tommy around by his dick and that she  _ isn’t  _ playin’ him for a fool. But you know what? I’m sorry - I shouldn’t have said she was playin’ him for a fool because that would mean she’d actually have to be smart enough to know how to do that in the first place. My bad, princess, because that sounds more like the kinda game  _ you  _ would run on some unsuspecting Saudi prince who’s too stupid to realize he’s been had.”

“Hmm,” she tilted her head to the side as she flicked some ash from her cigarette. “And here I thought I was just a big fat  _ liar _ .”

He just huffed out a laugh and shook his head mirthlessly.

But she wasn’t done just yet, setting her jaw and narrowing her eyes at him. “You know, this isn’t really fair.”

An amused smirk worked its way around his jaw, and he lifted his eyebrows expectantly. “And why’s that?”

“Because you,” Harper jabbed a finger at him just to reiterate her point, “can say whatever you want about my sister with no real consequences.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that, say I told you  _ exactly  _ what I thought of your brother and what he might be hiding, I wonder what you’d do?”

Jax’s eyes narrowed in on her dangerously again, and this time, he took an aggressive step closer to her, as if he did know  _ exactly  _ where the heart of her accusations really lied. “And what is my brother hiding?”

Harper just shrugged with a rueful grin. “That’s the thing. I can’t tell you. ‘Cuz if I did,” she pointedly dropped her gaze to the leather kutte he was wearing, “I have a feeling you’d point a gun at me.”

And now, he stared back at her with a dangerous, menacing glint in his eyes. That was fine. And maybe she had that coming since she’d chosen to go down this road. But at the end of the day, that was also the tell she’d been looking for. She was right. Her instincts about Tommy Teller and his connection to the Sons of Anarchy were  _ right _ .

“It wouldn’t be the first time. Once you’ve run away from the Yakuza in four-inch heels on Christmas Eve everything else just sorta seems to blend together,” Harper shrugged. “But like I said, you’re not exactly playing fair, are you?”

Jax was staring back at her now like he couldn’t quite comprehend any of the words that had just come out of her mouth. Like he really, honestly believed she was nothing but a ditzy, air-headed liar.

Alright, fine. Maybe she was really those things when the occasion called for it, but only when the occasion called for it. And then his cold, suspicious voice called out to her.

“Ya know somethin’, princess? I kinda get the feeling you’re not exactly playin’ fair either.”

“Well,” she allowed with an easy grin. “That makes two of us, I guess,” and then her eyes lit up when a car pulled up into the driveway, “Oh look! Pizza’s here.  _ Perfect  _ timing.”

He trailed after her as she waved the pizza delivery guy over to her. She took the pizza box from the delivery guy, and then looked to Jax expectantly.

“Well?” she prompted him. “You gonna get this or what? I think it’s the least you can do, seeing as how we’re standing out here because of _you_. Besides, I left my purse in the house.”

He narrowed his eyes at her again, but his lips still quirked up into an amused smirk. “You got any money in that purse?”

“Not for you.”

With a heavy sigh, and a wary glance, he gave in and dug into his back pocket for his wallet. He flipped some bills out of it and handed them over to the delivery guy without so much as a second glance. Clearly, someone was either very hungry or very over this entire affair. It was probably a little bit of both, and she supposed she understood the sentiment because she felt the exact same way.

On that note, she gripped the pizza box in both hands, determined to put on a happy face for her sister and pretend that her and Jax had gotten along  _ just fine _ out in the driveway just now. It was the least she could do, especially since, now that she’d had the misfortune of having a conversation, if that’s what it could be called, with Tommy’s older brother, she saw exactly what Willa was up against.

And while it came in a blonde, blue-eyed, bad boy in a leather kutte package, it definitely wasn’t pretty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Happy Sunday! So now we've met Harper, and I think it's safe to say she's really nothing like what Jax expected (right about now, I'm pretty sure he thinks she's a creature from another planet, lol). It's possible you may have guessed by now who the inspiration for Harper is, but I think to think she's not a carbon copy of Alexis Rose - I've lifted some aspects of her personality (that have been so much fun to write) and spun it into a new character who's more of a grifter than anything, which also makes her someone who'd fit in pretty well with the club, even if she doesn't look like it at first glance. So, was Harper just lying left and right to Jax, or actually telling him the truth...she only lies to talk her way out of something or talk her way into something, right? ;)
> 
> Harper will meet Gemma in the next chapter for their interview, and I'm sure you can imagine how much fun that was to write! Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Harper and her first interaction with Jax! There's still a few more moving pieces that need to get in the right place before Jax can pull the trigger, so to speak ;) Thank you to everyone who's read, reviewed, and left kudos!


	3. Chapter Three

Harper stepped out onto the pavement at Teller-Morrow Auto Repair, smoothing the slight wrinkles on the front of her dress and sweeping some of her long curls over her shoulder as she appraised the building. While at first glance, it really looked like any hometown, locally-owned auto repair in any town anywhere with its brick walls, wide-mouthed double garage, and the sounds of drills and tools knocking together filling the air. 

But then again, she also knew who owned this little hometown auto repair shop, and the duplicity of that - this quaint little shop in this dirty, rough-around-the-edges town being run by a bunch of one-percenter bikers, all while enjoying the relative comfort of knowing the founding member’s youngest son was chief of police, and therefore enjoying relative protection from the law - at least as far as she could tell - was all a little too delicious to resist.

Of course, that was setting aside the way her sister factored into all this, not to mention the way these people had been treating her sister too.

But if she  _ had  _ to stay in Charming, which she did, and if she  _ had  _ to get a job, which she absolutely did, then this was probably the most interesting place to work in this whole town. Why would she want to wait tables - she shuddered at the thought - or try her hand again at cashiering somewhere, when she could work here, where the entertainment and the action was probably endless.

So, on that note, she shifted her purse over her shoulder and made her way through the parking lot, careful to sidestep a few stray nails and screws in the process. When she got to the main office’s entrance, she had to take the steps a little slower - they were pretty steep and her chunky heels were pretty high - and she glanced inside the garage out of the corner of her eye.

And from the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a familiar blonde, long-haired jerk hunched underneath the hood of a Toyota that looked like it had seen better days. Her eyes narrowed at him right around the time he realized she was standing on the front steps of the office.

Jax’s gaze jerked up from the engine, and she didn’t hesitate. She waved brightly at him, with just enough of a sharp, toothy grin to make it clear this was  _ not _ a friendly wave. Even from where she stood, she could see the way his lips quirked up at the corners, and then he returned the gesture, this time flashing her that panty-dropping smirk right before flashing her the middle finger.

Her hand flew dramatically over her heart, and she shot him a practiced faux-pout, dipping her eyebrows down into a fake frown and everything. All she got in return for her effort was a cocked eyebrow as he clearly was done wasting anymore of his work time on her, and he moved around the side of the Toyota to put her out of his eyeline.

Harper huffed out a little laugh of victory to herself, and then with a quick inhale in preparation, knocked on the office door. It took a moment, but eventually, the woman she’d met at her parents’ funeral a few weeks before opened the door with a wry smile on her face. For a second, Harper was momentarily set off-kilter.

Gemma Teller-Morrow’s presence seemed to take up the entire space around them. Dark, carefully curled hair with stark blonde highlights streaked through it, sharp red nails to match her bright red lips, her face all sharp angles with black eyes framed with even blacker, thick eyelashes. And while Gemma’s fashion choices wouldn’t necessarily be Harper’s fashion choices, she supposed the low-cut Harley-Davidson T-shirt and leather jacket  _ was  _ the more appropriate uniform around here, rather than the short, loose-fitting flowy dress Harper had chosen for today’s interrogation.

But all in all, the vibe was clear. Gemma Teller-Morrow was a tough-as-nails, rough-around-the-edges, take-no-prisoners biker chick with dark, all-seeing eyes that really  _ did  _ seem like they could look right inside your soul. Nothing about this was a front. This was who Gemma  _ was _ , and she couldn’t blame Willa for shaking in her stilettos every time the woman’s name was even just mentioned in conversation.

“Well, hello,” Gemma smirked at her,  _ almost _ as if she knew exactly what Harper had just been thinking, and she tilted her head to the side as she did her own quick appraisal, dropping her dark, shark-like eyes to Harper’s chunky heels and sweeping them all the way up to the top of her head with a cavalier yet careful type of examination that must have taken years to perfect.

Then, Gemma surprised her by holding her hand out for Harper to shake, “I know we’ve met before, but I feel like it’s only fair if I re-introduce myself, you know, considering - I’m Gemma Teller-Morrow, Tommy’s mom.”

_ And,  _ Harper thought ruefully,  _ the mother of the blonde douchehole in the garage. _

“Nice to see you again,” she smiled brightly. “Harper Sullivan.”

With an amused smile - like all this was just purely entertainment - Gemma tilted her head a little more to the side, before stepping to her left to give Harper some room to enter the office, sweeping a hand out in front of her. Harper took the hint, stepping inside the expansive office with its high ceilings and somewhat cracked black and white tiled floor, as Gemma trailed after her.

“You can pull up a chair,” Gemma gestured to one of the chairs next to the big desk off to the side, and Harper took the direction, grabbing the chair closest to the desk and pulling it forward as it screeched a little across the tile flooring.

Harper sank into the chair, crossing her right leg on top of her left, and settled her dress over her thighs before dropping an elbow on her right leg in preparation.

“So, Harper,” Gemma started easily. “I hear you’re lookin’ for some work, and I’m lookin’ for some help around here. Let’s see if this is a good fit, huh?”

“Sure,” Harper nodded with a smile. “I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me today, Mrs. Teller-Morrow. I’m sure you’re very busy, you know, since Tommy tells me you’re the only one running the office right now. That has to be a little stressful from time to time, huh?”

Gemma’s head tilted to the side again, an amused grin playing on her lips - the same one that didn’t look all that different than the one she’d seen on Gemma’s oldest son last night. “It can be, sure. And it’s time-consuming too, you know? I  _ would  _ really like to get a second person in here so I can have some time off every once and awhile. And Gemma’s just fine - you can skip the formalities, sweetheart.”

“Sure,” Harper nodded with another smile. “So, Willa mentioned something the other day about how Teller-Morrow -”

“We just call it T-M,” Gemma cut in, that smirk on her lips slipping just a touch.

“Right,” Harper laughed, leaning forward a little to pat a hand to the edge of the desk. “ _ Right _ . That’s what Willa said too, but you know, with all of the things that have been going on lately, I'm having trouble keeping track of everything. It’s been a little bit of a whirlwind, you know?”

A tiny bit of sympathy crept into Gemma’s dark eyes at that, and she nodded. “Makes sense.”

“But  _ anyway _ , like I was saying before, Willa mentioned that T-M has really been booming lately - that you guys are, like, booked out months in advance for appointments.”

Now, Gemma’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Alright, so she needed to lay off the talk about Willa. That was obviously a touchy subject - well, at least the new in-laws had  _ that  _ in common.

“So is that something I would be doing then?” Harper threw out easily, mainly just to get Gemma’s focus away from the daughter-in-law she obviously had no use for.

Gemma’s eyebrows quirked in confusion. “What?”

“Making appointments,” Harper smiled. “Is that something I’d be doing?”

She leaned back in her chair, her dark eyes flicking up and down over Harper, who was still seated with her legs crossed and her chin resting easily in the palm of her hand. Then, Gemma’s lips quirked up at the corners ever so slightly.

“It would,” Gemma nodded slowly, her jaw working around a slight smirk. “We mostly get all our work off referrals and the locals around here, so all our appointments come in through the phone.”

“Oh, okay,” Harper shrugged. “So you don’t do, like, online booking or anything like that then?”

Gemma leaned forward, mimicking Harper’s stance, and dropped an elbow on the desk so she could prop her chin up. “No, we’ve never needed to do anything like that to bring in business and that shit costs money, you know? If it’s not broke, I’m not gonna fix it.”

“Sure,” Harper nodded, letting her whole body move to that rhythm. “Yeah, I can see that. And I’m guessing, besides answering the phone, I’d do things like greet the customers and get their signature on things?”

“That’s right,” she grinned back at Harper, this time that smirk curved into something more sly. “You strike me as the kinda girl who’d be able to handle that.”

“Oh, for sure,” Harper grinned widely. “It sounds, to me at least, that this job would basically be, like, a receptionist, right?”

Gemma’s lips curled up at the side of her red-stained mouth. “Right.”

“And, well, I’ll admit that I’ve never  _ been  _ a receptionist before, I  _ have  _ dealt with a lot of them over the years, so I feel like I’ve got a pretty good handle on what to do.”

“Alright,” Gemma allowed, that grin just slipping up even further up the right side of her mouth. “So, if you’ve got a pretty good handle on it, what would you do then? In your experience, I mean.”

Harper didn’t miss a beat, tilting her head to the side with a smile. “Well, there was this one time I went with Dave Franco to see his agent at CAA in Beverly Hills. I think he’s with WME now, actually,” she grinned at the way Gemma’s eyebrows immediately knitted together in a frown, and batted a hand at her, “Don’t worry, that was way before he started seeing Alison Brie - I don’t like cheaters, you know? But anyway, we were gonna go out to lunch after his meeting, so I just went along and sat in the waiting room while Dave was meeting with his agent about being in  _ Neighbors  _ \- anyway, so as I’m sitting in this waiting room, this really blonde, leggy model shows up and starts whining about her appointment getting moved, and that sweet little receptionist was cool as a cucumber. She just kept a smile on her face, kept her voice really even and calm, even as that model - I think I just saw her in a Maybelline ad, actually - but she just kept yelling and yelling and yelling. Not like it was a surprise to anyone because that’s what happens when your diet is basically cigarettes and green smoothies. I guess I’d be a little grumpy too, but this model was really letting the receptionist have it and that receptionist just did  _ not  _ give an inch. She was nice, calm, very poised, but also told that model there was no way she was getting on her agent’s schedule that day because he just didn’t have the time.”

Once she was done talking, she leaned back in her seat, taking in the way Gemma’s dark eyes squinted in thought, sifting through all those details and trying to sort out what was fact and what was fiction. This was one of the parts of her life that she always relished the most - watching people stutter and spiral around the more outrageous parts of her life, and trying to decide whether or not they should believe her. They should  _ always  _ believe her, but there was also only so much Harper could control too.

Finally, Gemma settled against the backrest of her chair, tilting her head to the side ever so slightly with a ghost of a smile on her lips. Then she tipped her chin to Harper, her nose crinkling in amusement. “Who’s Dave Franco?”

“Oh,” Harper laughed. “He’s James’ brother.”

When Gemma’s eyebrows just dipped into a frown, Harper batted a hand out in the air.

“Although, I have to say, if I ever ran into James again, I think I’d keep my distance. He kinda creeps me out now,” Harper explained tactfully, and when Gemma’s head tilted in confusion, she went on, “You know, ‘cuz of all those girls who said he made them take their clothes off without it being in their contracts? That’s probably not the  _ worst  _ thing that’s ever happened on a set before, but it’s not the  _ best  _ either, if you know what I mean.”

Now, Gemma was leaning forward again, her dark eyes sparkling with amusement. “You date a lot of actors then?”

Harper just lifted a shoulder nonchalantly. “Every once and awhile. They’re not always the most reliable choice in boyfriend, but they usually know the best hookups for party favors and that kind of thing when I’m in town.”

Gemma’s lips quirked up at the corners again. Either she was completely amused or completely baffled - not like it mattered that much to Harper. The last thing she needed, other than another actor for a boyfriend, was the approval of this woman.

“So, anyway,” Harper smiled. “Long story short, I guess I learned from that experience that while the customer might not always be right, you still have to  _ treat _ them like they’re right - and just be polite.”

“I’d have to agree,” Gemma nodded as she shifted in her chair, continuing her careful inventory. “So what about typing skills? Basic computer skills? That kinda thing - you know how to do any of that?”

“Well,” Harper just lifted a shoulder. “I can reply to a text message in under three seconds and I’ve been using a smartphone since I got an iPhone 3, like 12 years ago - I’ve got a 10 now, but you know what I mean.”

Gemma’s eyebrows lifted in amusement, and she bit down on her bottom lip to hide her smile. It was at this point that she could see exactly why Willa was terrified of this woman - if she actually  _ cared  _ whether Gemma liked her, or even wanted to hire her for that matter, she imagined Gemma could intimidate and interrogate and shift her mood at less than a moment’s notice. Besides, if Harper actually  _ wanted _ to impress a prospective employer, coming in for a job interview with zero real work experience and no resume or references to speak of probably wasn’t the way to do it.

It was a good thing she’d learned how to skate by on connections and charm a long time ago then.

“So, Gemma,” Harper grinned at her again. “I feel like this could be a good fit for me. You know, a nice change of pace from what I was doing before. But - I forgot to ask about my hours though. I know you said you wanted to take some breaks and that this job could be pretty time-consuming, so I was just wondering what my shift would be? Or would we switch? How would that work exactly?”

Now, Gemma ran a hand over her mouth to hide the way her lips curled their way around an amused grin. “You know, I’d have to give that a little thought once we got you settled and trained up. I’m sure we could settle on a schedule that works for both of us, and I know you  _ do _ need some time to stay on top of gettin’ your parents’ affairs in order. But that being said, there’s plenty of work around this place for you to be here full-time, if that’s somethin’ you’d be interested in, that is.”

Harper nodded knowingly. “Well, I  _ do  _ need the money right now, so I think I’d have to take you up on that.”

“I thought you might,” Gemma smirked at her, tucking some of those blonde streaks behind her ear as she spoke. “So how ‘bout you come back tomorrow, same time and everything, and I’ll start showin’ you the ropes. You can plan on bein’ done at 5, and then we’ll work out the rest of your training schedule while you’re here tomorrow. How’s that sound?”

Harper smiled brightly. “I think that sounds great.”

“I think so too,” her future employer grinned back at her.

* * *

Jax waited long enough to see Willa’s sister get into her little white Prius and back out of her parking stall before he ventured out of the garage. He’d been careful to keep his distance, not particularly wanting to run the risk of any other interactions with that girl today, at least not if he could help it. Once was enough.

But his curiosity had gotten the better of him, and after making sure that little Prius really left the parking lot, Jax hopped up the stairs to the office and pushed through the door to find his mother shuffling through some paperwork at her desk. Gemma glanced up at him, looking through the reading glasses perched on her nose, and she flashed him a wide grin.

“Somethin’ I can help you with, Jackson? Last I checked, you were supposed to be workin’.”

Jax’s eyes lifted to the ceiling and he set his hands on his hips, leveling his wary eyes at his mother. “So you gonna hire her or what?”

Gemma’s eyebrows leapt into her forehead in amusement and she wagged a finger at him. “You know somethin’? I really think Tommy hitched his wagon to the wrong sister.”

His eyes widened, and he couldn’t stop the way his lips parted in surprise. “Ma, that girl is -”

“That girl is the furthest thing from stupid is what she is,” Gemma cut in with a smirk. “Not to mention the fact that talkin’ to her just now was the most fun I’ve had in awhile. I think I’m actually lookin’ forward to her workin’ here.”

Jax’s lips parted again, but then he clamped them shut again. If Gemma had made up her mind, she’d made up her mind, especially since she was really just doing Tommy a favor. There’d be no talking her out of it. But still…

“You know nothin’ that comes out of her mouth is true, though, right? Whatever she told you, whatever story she spun for you...none of it is  _ actually _ true. I mean, she tried tellin’ me last night that not only does she somehow have the Kardashians on speed-dial for video chats but she dated a Saudi prince for,  _ like half a regime change  _ a few years ago. I don’t think I’ve ever heard so much bullshit in one sitting in my entire life, and that’s really fucking saying something.”

Gemma swept her glasses off her face, tossed them onto her desk, and cocked an amused eyebrow at him. “And how do you know it was all bullshit?”

He blew out an exasperated sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “Ma, come on. You’re better than this.”

She just lifted a shoulder, shuffling through some papers again until she pulled one out and handed it over to him, tipping her chin to him as he slid it out of her fingertips. “That’s the background check I had Juice run on her yesterday. Whatdya think of that?”

Jax’s eyes dropped to the paper in his hand, skimming through it until one line in particular made him still. “She’s been arrested  _ five  _ times?”

“Yep. That’s one more than you,” Gemma laughed. “Now, if I actually  _ cared  _ about whether someone I hired around here had a record, none of you assholes would have jobs, but I thought it was interesting, right?”

Yeah, it was fucking interesting alright. One section in particular had his attention - the line that detailed her first arrest ten years ago for possession of a schedule 1 narcotic. That charge, incidentally, had been dropped against her the next day.

He squinted at the paper again to make sure he was reading it right. And now, Gemma was watching him like a hawk with a shit-eating grin on her face.

“Which one of those has you tripped up the most, Jax?” Gemma laughed from behind the desk. “The petty theft, the grand theft auto, the credit card fraud, the disorderly conduct, or the narcotics possession?”

Jax’s eyes lifted from the paper in his hand to meet his mother square in the eye. “What the fuck is this shit?”

She just huffed out a laugh, lifting a shoulder at him before rising up from the desk and stepping around the side so she could stand in front of him. “What does it look like?”

“She might’ve mentioned somethin’ last night about her boyfriend leaving his ‘shrooms in her car and that she got arrested for it,” Jax mumbled under his breath. “Looks like that might’ve actually happened.”

Gemma lifted her shoulder again before hitching a hand on her hip. “Doesn’t look like she did any time for it either.”

She definitely didn’t. And what had she said? _I only lie when I need to_ _talk my way out of something._ Or _into_ something - he was pretty sure she’d made that admission too. Looks like she’d talked her way _out_ of that narcotics charge and had just talked her way _into_ a job.

He rubbed a hand over his mouth as he studied the background check more carefully. It looked like she’d also never really listed a formal residence just about anywhere in at least three years, and before that, her last recorded address on file was a PO box in LA.

“Actually,” Gemma was saying now, some amusement creeping back into her voice. “From what I can gather, the only real time she ever did was for the disorderly conduct thing, and I think that was just a 12-hour hold, right?”

Jax’s eyes dropped back to the background check, and he huffed out a laugh. “Yeah. It says somethin’ underneath that about  _ civil protective custody _ . I bet she was in the fuckin’ drunk tank.”

“That could be it,” Gemma grinned and then quickly bit down on her bottom lip to hide her smile. “Interesting in-law Tommy has now, huh?”

He lifted his eyes from the paper in his hand again, this time cocking a wary eyebrow at his mother. “Interesting is one way to describe her.”

“So, I’m sure you can see why I felt like I needed to hire her.”

Jax huffed out another laugh and shook his head. “Jesus Christ, Ma. You know you didn’t  _ really  _ have to hire her, right? You coulda just given Tommy some line about her not having any work experience, which,” his eyes dropped again to her background check, found what he was looking for and nodded, “was also true. She has  _ no  _ work experience, no education beyond her high school diploma at,” he looked at the paper again and huffed, “Beverly Hills High School. Of course.”

“Well,” Gemma just lifted an eyebrow at him. “How much education beyond high school do  _ you  _ have?”

He just narrowed his eyes at his mother, choosing instead to focus on this background check rather than acknowledge the fact that he, too, was operating through life just fine on a GED alone. But at least he could say he had some real and legitimate work experience at the shop, the club notwithstanding.

“Besides,” Gemma went on lightly. “It seems to me that whatever experiences she’s had in between graduating from high school and landing here in town last week...they sure as shit were interesting and she sure as shit wouldn’t have survived them in one piece, and without ever having a real job and without doing any hard time, if she wasn’t  _ at least  _ a little bit smart and _ a little bit _ resourceful. And I don’t know about you, but street smarts trump real job experience for me any day of the week.”

Jax paused at that, sifting through everything she’d told him last night the short time they’d been standing out in Tommy’s driveway, waiting on that pizza. “Maybe it’s not the worst thing to keep her close like this. At least we can keep an eye on her here.”

“I agree,” Gemma shrugged. “I doubt Tommy’s got any idea what his new sister-in-law has really been up to.”

Jax cocked an amused eyebrow at her. “Kinda ironic, don’t ya think?”

All his mother could do was shake her head. He knew he probably shouldn’t have brought Willa into the mix, even just indirectly, but that one was just too easy to pass up. Tommy didn’t do much with his wife except sleep with her and lie to her left and right, and maybe he deserved a little bit of payback in the way of not knowing exactly what  _ he’d  _ married into before signing on the dotted line with Willa.

“I can’t imagine the little woman has any idea either. If she does, she’s an even better actress than I thought,” Gemma told him, pursing her lips ruefully just at the mention of her daughter-in-law.

“Ma,” Jax sighed. “You gotta quit that shit, okay? She’s got a name - you should probably use it, at least around Tommy. That might actually go a long way with him.”

Gemma reared back, eyes wide like he’d just committed some kind of egregious offense. “Jesus. What the hell happened at dinner last night?”

Well, what happened at dinner last night was going right with him to the grave. There was nothing Gemma could ever do or say that would make him betray Tommy’s confidence like that. But honestly, now that he  _ did  _ know the truth, the  _ whole _ truth, everything made a little more sense to him too. By the end of the night, and after the most uncomfortable pizza party he’d ever been to, it was pretty clear to him that he’d been a massive asshole to his new sister-in-law. Sure, she was a little soft. A little fragile. More than a little too naive for his taste. But she wasn’t a bad person, and the shit she’d gone through in the last few months - losing a baby  _ and  _ both her parents in such a short span of time...he’d deserved every word she’d thrown at him and then some, even if it had shocked the hell out of him. 

Even he could see that warranted a clean slate.

And in his mind, dinner at Tommy’s last night was a fresh start, and hopefully, a second chance to have a relationship with his sister-in-law and not blow up the one he already had with his little brother.

Part of him wished Tommy would just fess up to Gemma already and clue her into the real reason he’d married Willa as quickly as he did because, at the very least, Gemma would drop the shit about them working on having a baby like a bad habit. 

But that was Tommy’s business, not his. And it definitely wasn’t his place.

“The only thing that happened last night at dinner,” Jax allowed instead, “was that I saw that I’ve been a dick to her for no real,  _ good _ reason. I also saw that Tommy really seems to have actual feelings for her, Ma, and not that just the below-the-belt kind. I think he really  _ does  _ love her, and I know all that is hard for us to wrap our heads around, but he’s my brother, he’s your kid...I kinda get the feeling that if we keep this shit up, we might push him too far. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t really feel like putting him in a position where he feels like he has to choose between us and his wife.”

“That’s a really shitty fuckin’ thing to say, Jackson,” Gemma pointed an angry finger at him. “He’d never turn away from his family like that.”

“Well,” Jax just shrugged. “He’s made it pretty clear she’s his family too now. Somethin’ to think about - that’s all I’m saying. So my point is, Ma, I think you’d better think long and hard about what’s more important to you: raggin’ on your new daughter-in-law or keepin’ your son in your life, ‘cuz sooner or later, you may not be able to do both.”

That seemed to get through to Gemma just a little bit because her dark eyes widened a touch, and then fell to the floor in between them as her shoulders sagged with enough resignation to let him know it was starting to sink in.

They both knew Tommy would never, ever turn his back on the club and his legacy within it. But that didn’t mean, if pushed far enough, that he  _ wouldn’t _ choose sides. And given everything he knew now, Jax could see a scenario playing out where, with his back against the wall, Tommy just might decide that the woman he loved was more important than his blood.

Finally, Gemma grumbled, “I guess you’re right.”

He held up both hands to show  _ he  _ wasn’t taking sides, but was only trying to referee. “You’re entitled to feel however it is you feel about her, Ma. I get that, and I also understand why you feel the way you do. Just keep it to yourself from now on, okay? Or, at least, don’t say it in front of Tommy. You need to vent about her, just vent to me. You know I’d never say anything to him anyway.”

Gemma eyed him carefully before resting a hand on his cheek. “ _ Something  _ happened at dinner last night. Don’t try to tell me otherwise.”

“How would you know?” he flashed her a crooked smirk. “You weren’t invited and for good reason.”

She responded by smacking her hand lightly against his cheek before tugging on some of the whiskers on his chin. “Alright, alright. I hear you, Jax.”

“You comin’ to watch the fight tonight?”

“Depends. Who’s on the rotation?”

He grinned, knowing who was on rotation would only ensure her attendance. “Tommy. He’s up against that big dude the Mayans recruited a couple months ago. You remember when he fought Happy? Almost knocked Hap’s lights out too - but I think Tommy’s gonna come out on top tonight.”

Tig was on rotation too, but Jax didn’t really give a shit about that. He kinda hoped Tig got his bell rung into next week, even if that did mean it would cost the club some cash. It was cash well-spent, as far as he was concerned.

“Of course Tommy’s gonna come out on top,” Gemma huffed out an exasperated laugh, and then she tipped her chin to him with a grin. “What excuse do you think he gave Willa this time?”

Jax had to shake his head at her - sure, Gemma was using her name now, but there still wasn’t much respect attached to it. At least it was a start and it was better than nothing.

“I think he told her he was workin’ a night shift again. All he’s gotta do is say he broke up a bar fight or somethin’ like that and he’s in the clear. She’s believed him every other time so far.”

Gemma shook her head a little. “You think she’s just really naive or just really stupid?”

Even though, on behalf of his little brother, Jax didn’t really appreciate her phrasing, he could understand the question. 

“I don’t know, Ma,” he allowed and then rubbed the back of his neck a little anxiously. “But I  _ do  _ get the feeling the sister’s onto him. I don’t know how much she knows, but she knows somethin’.”

Seeing as how Harper Sullivan appeared to be a little bit of a grifter, he had a pretty good feeling she’d clued herself into a lot more than she was letting on. 

“Well,” Gemma lifted a shoulder. “Like I said. She’s anything but stupid. I wouldn’t be all that surprised if she saw right through Tommy’s act the second she met him - takes one to know one.”

He blew out a heavy sigh and ran a hand through his hair a little too anxiously for his liking. The fact that some outsider, especially one like  _ her,  _ had seen through any one of Tommy’s carefully constructed lies all in the span of a week...that was more unsettling than he was willing to admit.

And what had she told him last night?

_ Say I told you  _ exactly _ what I thought of your brother and what he might be hiding, I wonder what you’d do...I have a feeling you’d point a gun at me. _

Yeah. Princess knew a helluva lot more than she was letting on.

Gemma was right. She was anything but stupid.

“And if that’s the case,” Gemma went on with a sigh. “I guess it really is for the best that she’s workin’ here, at least while she’s in town...let’s us keep an eye on her. Although, I gotta say, she doesn’t strike me as the type that would deliberately stir up trouble just to stir up trouble, at least not if it could blowback on Willa. If she’s survived this long, she’s survived this long knowing exactly how to play the game.”

He lifted a wary eyebrow at his mother. “So what kinda story did she spin for you to talk you into hiring her?”

“Oh, she didn’t have to talk me into anything. I’d made up my mind the second I got a good look at that background check,” Gemma laughed. “Although, our interview wasn’t much of an interview. Actually, half the time  _ I  _ was the one being interviewed, not the other way around.”

Jax’s eyes dropped to that background check in his hand and he shook his head. “How does someone talk their way out of grand theft auto  _ and  _ narcotics charges?”

The petty theft and the credit card shit could  _ maybe _ be explained away as a misunderstanding.  _ Maybe _ . But felonies were a whole other story. And he had a feeling she hadn’t gotten out of those charges because she’d had a good lawyer. At the very least, now he knew to really watch himself whenever she was around in case she decided to try to pickpocket his wallet or something. Right about now, he wouldn’t put it past her.

“I don’t know, Jax,” Gemma grinned back at him. “Maybe that’s a question you gotta ask  _ her. _ ”

He just shot her an exasperated glance and shook his head. “Like I’d ever trust a word that comes outta her mouth. You know she gave me some line about runnin’ away from the Yakuza in heels on Christmas Eve? What kinda psycho says that shit to someone with a straight face?”

Gemma bit down on her bottom lip to hide her smirk, but she obviously wasn’t doing a very good job because that smirk was clear and very present on her face. “Maybe it wasn’t a lie. That’s pretty specific, don’t you think?”

“Or, just specific enough to _sound_ like it could be true.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“So you mean to tell me,” he shot back incredulously, “that you  _ really _ believe that girl -  _ that  _ girl - was runnin’ around somewhere in Japan, somehow got mixed up with the fuckin’  _ Japanese mafia  _ and got away from them on Christmas Eve in four-inch heels?”

She just shrugged with a sly smirk. “Like I said, seems kinda specific to be a complete fib.”

“Yeah, just like the fuckin’ Saudi prince she met on a flight from Mykonos to London. You wanna know what she told me when I asked what she was doin’ on a flight from Mykonos to London?”

Gemma bit down on her bottom lip again. “What?”

“She said it was because she wanted to go to  _ London _ .”

Now, Gemma’s shoulders started to shake with laughter, so much, in fact, that she had to dip down with her hands perched on her knees as that laughter overtook her. She was  _ still  _ laughing when she righted herself again, running a finger underneath her eye to wipe away a tear, and all Jax could do was just stare at her.

“Seriously though, Jax,” Gemma was  _ still  _ laughing. “Why else would someone be on a flight from Mykonos to London?”

Jax sliced a hand through his hair in frustration, not appreciating the turn this had taken, and so damn quickly too. “That’s nice, Ma. That’s  _ real  _ nice. Let’s believe the pathological liar in the four-inch heels who tried tellin’ me she pretended to be some celebrity’s second personal assistant to get backstage at a fuckin’  _ Jonas  _ Brothers’ concert.”

Actually, now that he said that one out loud, _that_ one might actually be true. It was too fucking stupid not to be true. And that thought, as much as he hated to admit it, did give him some pause about everything else the little psychopath said to him last night.

“You know,” Gemma laughed again, wiping another stray tear from her eye. “If you’re  _ trying  _ to get me not to like her….you’re not doin’ a very good job, baby. That’s the kinda shit that’s gonna keep me entertained for weeks.”

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered under his breath and shook his head.

“You know what?” she chuckled as she ripped the background check out of his hands and pushed him toward the garage. “You need to get your ass back to work. Go on - get outta here and finish up that Toyota. You’ve got four more oil changes lined up for today before you can even  _ think  _ about clocking out.”

Jax just batted his hands at his mother. What an epic waste of time this was. Well, at some point, Willa’s sister would either out-stay her welcome here in Charming, or get bored and hop on a flight to Tokyo or some shit, probably with his mother’s stolen credit card too. And if that was the case, then Gemma had it coming.

Just as he turned the knob, his mother’s voice called back out to him.

“Oh, hey, Jax?”

He turned his head with his eyebrows lifted expectantly. “What’s that, Ma?”

“Who’s Dave Franco?”

* * *

With one left hook right into the side of his opponent’s head, Tommy let out a roar of victory as that big son of a bitch fell to his knees in the ring. Jax didn’t hesitate, leaping over the robes to get to his brother, and then he grabbed Tommy’s right wrist to lift it high into the air with the club roaring and hollering behind them outside the ring. 

When he dropped Tommy’s wrist, the two brothers flexed their muscles at each other with their fists curled in front of their thighs as they roared in each other’s faces. They finished off their victory ritual by leaping up in the air to bump chests. When Jax landed on his feet, he tipped his head back to let out one more roar of victory.

Money in the bank for the club and one more solid win on the books. 

He tossed Tommy a towel so he could wipe the sweat and the blood off his face, shaking his head a little as Gemma descended to check in on her precious little baby. That was fine anyway, because Tommy needed a breather, and he was headed for a quick business meeting with Clay and Marcus Alvarez. At the very least, Clay had been smart enough to keep his distance tonight, staying on the other side of the ring with Gemma, and tending to his little lapdog, who’d gotten his ass handed to him earlier.

Not that he was bitter or anything.

He took that extra moment to light up a cigarette, grinning at Tommy one more time from over his shoulder as he sauntered off to the side, where Clay and Alvarez were waiting for him. Jax kept his attention on the Mayans prez, choosing to ignore his own prez as he let a trail of smoke billow out behind him.

“Jax,” Alvarez nodded to him in greeting. “Looks like Tommy was in fine form tonight. You should be proud.”

“Damn right,” he grinned. “Taught that little fucker everything he knows.”

Clay chuckled to his left, but Jax continued to ignore the piece of shit next to him. The sooner they could get this meeting over with the better. There was booze he needed to drink and some ass he needed to hit, and the longer he stood next to Clay, the more his happy, light mood ebbed into something darker. 

“Yeah, I can see that,” Alvarez chuckled. “He’s got that Teller left hook.”

“Alright, alright,” Clay held out a hand with a light chuckle. 

From the corner of his eye, Jax could see that Clay was looking at him, but he still refused to make eye contact with him. And if that frustrated Clay, or moved him at all one way or the other, Jax really didn’t give a shit. As far as he was concerned, he’d be completely fine with never speaking to his club president and step-father ever again. In fact, he fucking  _ hoped  _ he’d be able to get away with never speaking to the bastard again.

That was probably the only thing that would eventually keep him killing his club president and step-father too.

“So we gotta drop-off comin’ up at the end of the week,” Clay got right down to business now, and it was just as well. “I’m thinkin’ the usual place with the usual suspects at the usual time.”

Alvarez nodded immediately - this was just business as usual, like Clay had said, and honestly, it really didn’t require much discussion or planning. At this point, Jax’s presence wasn’t even really necessary. It was more a formality than anything, and he guessed it was just another opportunity for Clay to try to wield some kind of power and influence. Go fucking figure.

“I don’t see a problem with that,” Alvarez agreed, and then his eyebrows dipped down a little. “Just as a heads up, I got word from Laroy yesterday that two white brothers were sniffing around their operation in Oakland. He thought they were just moving through town, and didn’t see much of an issue - but it was obviously strange enough for him to send word my way.”

“Two white brothers?” Jax frowned. “What the hell were they doin’ that ruffled Laroy’s feathers like that?”

“Not sure,” Alvarez replied, lifting his shoulder as he spoke. “He only name-dropped one of them - Ethan Zobelle. He didn’t get the other guy’s name, but he said they were lookin’ for a sit-down with him. Somethin’ about lookin at redrawing our drop-off zones and lookin’ for some protection for their new business in Oakland.”

“Zobelle?” Jax exhaled, and for the first time in a while, he found himself looking to Clay to see if that name rang a bell for him too. Clay nodded to him silently, indicating that he’d heard the name in passing too.

Jax had heard that name before in connection to the League of American Nationalists, a white separatist group that had no real, legitimate business poking around the Niners’ operations in Oakland, unless they were just looking to stir up trouble and start a race war. While he had no idea just how connected Zobelle was to the LOAN, any connection to a group like that definitely wasn’t a good one, and it was exactly the type of group that the club, right along with Tommy, worked hard to keep out of their town.

Clay ran a hand over his mouth, his eyebrows knitted together in thought. “Why the hell would a guy like Zobelle wanna get involved with our drop-off zones?”

“What I wanna know,” Jax added, “is how he even  _ knows _ about that shit in the first place.”

Alvarez nodded grimly. “And I gotta feeling, since Laroy felt the need to warn me, that we might be seein’ those two white brothers make their way over to our side of things sometime soon, especially if they were just passin’ through Oakland.”

“Well,” Clay allowed with a shrug. “We’ll keep our ear to the ground, and let you know if they kick anything up over here. I can’t imagine they’d cross city limits without Tommy catching wind of it anyway.”

“Sounds good,” Alvarez nodded to Clay, and then to Jax, as he started to head back toward where the rest of the Mayans had congregated on their side of the ring. “You enjoy the rest of your night, and you enjoy that cash your boy brought in tonight. We’re gonna take that back from you at the next one though.”

“Yeah,” Jax huffed out a laugh as he brought a cigarette to his lips. “Keep dreamin’,  _ esé _ .”

Alvarez shook his head ruefully, but he was still chuckling all the way back to where his own club was celebrating their win over Tig, which was fine because Samcro was going to be partying into the waking hours to celebrate Tommy’s win over the behemoth the Mayans had in their bullpen. Tommy, of course,  _ used  _ to party right next to him into those waking hours, but now, he’d be headed out after a few beers and after giving Chibs a little bit of time to patch him up enough to convince his wife he’d just broken up a nasty bar fight during his night shift.

Sooner or later, that bubble Tommy and Willa were in right now was going to burst, but Jax wasn’t stupid enough to call him out on that. He was already on enough thin ice with his brother the way it was.

And now that official club business was over, Jax turned on his heel, and left Clay behind him so he could get back over to Tommy. They’d always been careful to keep Tommy out of any official talks with other clubs so he had plausible deniability, should push ever come to shove, and they’d managed to strike a balance that worked for everyone but still kept all the right boundaries drawn where they needed to be.

He tipped his chin to Tommy, who was sitting on a bench with a beer in his hand, getting himself all fawned over by Gemma, as Chibs worked on him with efficient precision. 

“What’s up, bro?” Tommy asked him, taking a long pull from his beer and swatting Gemma’s hands away with his free hand.

“We got another drop-off planned with Alvarez. All the usual shit - it’s gonna be Hap, Juice, and Bobby carrying the cargo.”

“Alright,” Tommy nodded easily. “Just lemme know what time they’re gonna be heading through and I’ll make sure everything’s all clear.”

“Hey,” Jax tipped his chin to Tommy again with a frown. “You ever heard the name Ethan Zobelle?”

Tommy ran a battered hand over his mouth, squinting down at the ground in thought. “Nah, I don’t think so. At least, I’ve never gotten hits on that name at the station. Why?”

“Alvarez said him and some other guy were sniffin’ around the Niners’ set-up in Oakland - they were lookin’ to rezone and get some protection for their business. All I know, which isn’t that much, is that Zobelle’s with the LOAN. I’m not quite sure just  _ how  _ in bed he is with them, but he’s definitely in bed with ‘em.”

“So, I’m guessin’ this is a guy I gotta be on the lookout for?”

“Looks like it, bro. A guy like that, from what I’ve heard - he’s probably moneyed. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he’s probably got some connections on both sides of the law, too, if he’s runnin’ around in Oakland and pokin’ around in the Niners’ operation without batting an eye.”

“Fuckin’ great,” Tommy muttered his breath. “Alright, I’ll see what I can find out. The last thing we need around here is another outsider kickin’ up shit.”

“Oh yeah?” Jax lifted his eyebrows warily, shifting his gaze pointedly at Gemma, who just rolled her eyes. “Kinda like your sister-in-law, huh?”

Tommy hitched a hand on his thigh, squinting up at him through a frown and a nasty-looking black eye. “What’s that supposed to mean?” then he glanced at Gemma, “I thought you said the interview went well?”

“It did,” Gemma shook her head at Jax, and jabbed a finger at him. “Your brother here thinks she’s trouble.”

“She’s trouble,” Jax lifted a wary eyebrow, “because she’s onto you, bro. You better watch yourself around her.”

Tommy reared his head back, that frown on his bruised face only deepening. “What do you mean, she’s onto me? She’s been in town a  _ week _ . I literally met her the day after her parents got into that car accident three weeks ago.”

“Well,” Jax allowed. “Your sister-in-law is a lot of things, but stupid is definitely not one of them. I got the feeling from her last night that she doesn’t believe a single thing you’ve ever said to your wife about the club, or your job for that matter, just so you know.”

Tommy blew out a deep breath and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Shit.”

“Like I said, you better watch yourself around her. And keep an eye on your valuables when she’s in your house, just to be on the safe side.”

“Aw, come on, Jax,” Gemma huffed out a laugh with both hands on her hips. “Just because she got pinned for petty theft doesn’t mean she’d steal from her sister’s house, or her sister’s husband.”

Tommy’s eyes just about popped out of his head. “She got pinned for  _ what _ ? When the fuck did that happen?”

“You ever run a background check on her?” Gemma grinned slyly, waiting long enough to see Tommy shake his head before she pushed on. “I think you should. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.”

“Well, I’m sorry,” Tommy huffed. “I guess I didn’t think I’d need to run a background check on my wife’s sister. Fuckin’  _ excuse  _ me.”

“Hey,” Jax hooked a thumb at their mother with a shit-eating grin. “You know Willa’s sister tried to tell Ma today that she used to date Dave Franco? Who says shit like that?”

Tommy just lifted a shoulder. “She  _ did.  _ That was...I think seven or eight years ago? Willa showed me a picture on her phone of the three of them at some party. I think it was only a couple of weeks or somethin’ like that and then she dropped him for some musician she met at a different party. And hey, she’s got a  _ name _ , Jax, just so you know.”

Jax’s eyebrows quirked into a frown as he studied his brother, looking for any sign that this was all just a big ruse, that Tommy was somehow in on the joke that every fucking word out of that girl’s mouth was just lie after lie after lie. And apparently, Willa was in on some of those lies too.

“I think she was seeing one of those twins from  _ Big Daddy  _ a few years ago too. I don’t know which one though - I think it’s the one that’s on that stupid show Willa watches on Netflix sometimes.”

So, she’d gotten Tommy’s head all twisted around too? He wasn’t surprised to hear that Willa believed the rampant and glaringly obvious fabrications, but he couldn’t believe Tommy, of all people, had fallen for it too. He was just about done with this shit.

“Bullshit,” Jax growled. 

He hadn’t meant to take that kind of tone with Tommy, and winced a little bit when Tommy lifted his eyebrows in surprise, but he just couldn’t help it. That girl was obviously a high-functioning psychopath  _ and  _ a pretty skilled con artist - despite the five arrests - all wrapped up in a tall, pretty, and  _ fake  _ Valley girl package, that was for damn sure.

How he was the only one, out of everyone around him, that saw right through her bullshit was beyond him.

“Whatever,” Tommy just shrugged. “Willa told me Harper has a tendency to jump from guy to guy anyway. She was kinda surprised Harper even got engaged in the first place, but I guess none of this really matters, because it’s sounding like I need to watch my mouth around her.”

“If you’re smart, bro,” Jax nodded tightly. “And if I were you, I’d run that background check on her sooner rather than later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Happy Sunday! Thank you to everyone who's read and commented and left kudos! So we learned a little bit more about Harper and got her first interaction with Gemma. There are a few moving pieces that need to slide into place before this story can really hit the ground running, and a lot of those pieces will get into the right spot in the next chapter too.
> 
> I'm just starting to write chapter 11 this weekend, and I have to say, this turned into something way different than what I thought I was writing! I thought this was going to be one type of story, and then it takes a hard left around chapter 6, and I'm completely okay with it, lol. I think it ended up being better than what I'd planned, and I think you'll agree ;)
> 
> Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this one! Your thoughts and your feedback really keep me going!


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Harper blew out a deep sigh and wrapped an arm around her sister’s shoulders as they watched Tommy and his brother carry their parents’ mattress into the trailer parked in the driveway. They’d already loaded up the bed frame, headboard, and one of the two dressers that used to be owned by their parents, but were now headed for new ownership. Someone Tommy knew at the police station - Harper had kinda tuned him out once she got the information she needed from him - had offered to buy the whole bedroom set for a pretty fair price, and so Harper and Willa hadn’t turned it down.

_ Everything  _ in the house would have to be sold as fast as they could sell it, and even then, that would only put a tiny dent in the six figures of crushing debt on their shoulders. 

And even though she wasn’t particularly looking forward to actually having to find an apartment around here, she was looking forward to getting out of this house. She felt like a squatter, and while she’d surfed plenty of friends’ couches when necessary, she’d never deliberately overstayed her welcome just about anywhere. Here, in this house, where she’d never felt all that welcome in the first place...Harper felt like her parents’ ghosts were still hovering, still judging, still glaring with disappointment. The sooner they could unload this house and everything in it, the better.

And, she figured, if she  _ had _ to put down roots somewhere for a while out of pure necessity alone, it might as well be in the same town Willa had put roots down in too.

When she glanced at her sister, Harper’s heart twisted violently in her chest. Willa was trying so hard not to cry out here in the driveway as they watched her husband and her brother-in-law load some of their dead parents’ possessions into a trailer to be hauled away. Harper squeezed Willa’s shoulder just to make sure Willa still knew she was there, and despite the effort, Willa still ran a finger underneath her eye to wipe away a stray tear.

“It’s okay, Will,” Harper murmured in her ear. “At least someone is going to be able to use it now, right?”

“Right,” Willa nodded bravely. “That’s true. Mom and Dad would want someone to use it - I remember when Mom sent me all the pictures when she redecorated their bedroom. She was so proud of it.”

Harper had gotten pretty good at biting her tongue around Willa where their parents were concerned, and she put that well-honed skill to use right now. Their mom had never sent  _ her  _ any pictures of the redecorating reveal. Apparently, only Willa had been deemed worthy of that.

“I know,” Harper agreed instead. “Mom really did have the best style.”

So, at least she didn’t have to lie about that. If there were two things Rose Sullivan had excelled at in life, it was spending money and interior design. Funnily enough, those two things usually went hand in hand. 

God, she really needed a drink.

“Hey, Will, you wanna go inside and have a glass of wine or something? The guys don’t really need our help with this anyway.”

Tommy’s head lifted at her voice, and he nodded to Harper with a grateful, tight smile. If anything, over these last few days since the disastrous dinner party and her interview at T-M, Tommy had been mostly friendly and generally pleasant to be around, when she had to be around him. There seemed to be some unspoken agreement between them now that they needed to put on a united front where Willa was concerned. It didn’t matter if they trusted each other, or even liked each other. Willa was more important than any of that.

Of course, she hadn’t appreciated when her brother-in-law, who she barely knew and who she knew to be keeping some pretty big secrets himself, thought he could not-so-subtly interrogate her about her arrest history. When Harper pointedly asked him about  _ his  _ arrest history, Tommy’s blue eyes had widened, and then narrowed just as quickly.

He’d also dropped the good cop, bad cop act just as quickly too.

So, that being said, she’d shoved aside what her intuition knew to be true, and decided to just focus on getting through these next few months - there was plenty of work to do at the house in between her shifts at the shop to keep her busy, and she figured it was best to lean into it as much as possible.

If Tommy wanted to tell Willa story after story about his life in Charming, and if Willa chose to believe his lies, that was their problem.

“Come on, Will,” Harper nudged her sister, mainly just to get her attention away from what was inside that trailer.

With her arm still around Willa’s shoulders, Harper led her back through the garage so they could go inside, where wine was waiting for them. She cast one quick look over her shoulder to find Tommy still hard at work, and was momentarily caught off-guard to find Jax’s eyes squarely on her. His eyebrows lifted the second they made eye contact, and she didn’t miss the way his lips curled back into a slight snarl. Then his eyes dropped down to the trailer just as quickly, as he helped Tommy shift her parents’ mattress up against the trailer’s back wall.

Whatever.

Over the last few days, her shifts at the shop had been pretty contained to the office, and  _ learning the ropes _ , Gemma called it, and the douche-canoe in the trailer had kept his distance. Sometimes, she caught the back of his head when he was bent over an engine, or sometimes the bottoms of his stupid white sneakers when he was underneath some car - seriously, what kind of  _ biker  _ wore white sneakers? But if he ever did venture inside the office when she was there, he was really only there to drop off a set of keys or give Gemma an update on whatever car he was working on at that moment. And everytime he  _ was  _ in the office, he looked anywhere but at her, as if her mere presence alone was an affront to him.

And here Harper thought  _ she  _ had a tendency to be a drama queen when the situation called for it.

When Harper pulled Willa inside the kitchen, she immediately reached for two wine glasses in the cabinet, poured them two glasses from the bottle she’d cracked open last night by herself, and tried not to react when Willa downed her glass in three big gulps.

In a show of solidarity, Harper wordlessly dumped the rest of the wine left in the bottle right in Willa’s glass. And then, the sisters nodded to each other, clinked their glasses, and downed their wine.

“I think this calls for another bottle,” Harper told her sister good-naturedly. “I spied a really expensive-looking chardonnay in the wine cooler downstairs when I was poking around in it last night. You wanna give it a try?”

“I don’t know…” Willa eyed her empty wine glass carefully with a wince. “I don’t think Tommy would love it if I got a little tipsy right now. Besides, I think I know what bottle you’re talking about and I’m pretty sure that was, like, a $90 bottle of chardonnay.”

“Well,” Harper laughed lightly. “For one, who cares what Tommy thinks? And two, a $90 bottle of chardonnay is just  _ begging  _ to be popped, if you ask me. And it’s not like it’s gonna drink itself, right? Can’t let it go to waste.” 

Of course, that $90 bottle of chardonnay was probably bought on credit, with the money her parents really didn’t have, but there had to be a silver lining somewhere. Today, wine was that silver lining.

With that, Harper held up a finger to silence whatever protest was about to form on her sister’s lips, and she took off for the basement, where that wine cooler was just waiting to be opened. She bounded down the stairs and headed right for the wine cooler, side-stepping around the boxes of some personal items Willa had already deemed they just  _ couldn’t  _ sell, and Harper pulled open the door to the cooler, her eyes scanning the contents for the bottle she was looking for.

“Ooo,” Harper murmured to herself as her fingertips slid over a particularly intriguing bottle of champagne. She hadn’t stumbled across  _ this  _ one last night. “I think we might need this one too.”

She grabbed the champagne, her attention lifting only once when she heard a door shut and some deep voices above her, and then she went back to the important task at hand, namely tracking down that chardonnay - it was easier said than done, considering her parents had a wine collection that rivaled Jared Leto, and that was really saying something. That guy was a little too eccentric for her liking, but she’d had fun lifting a bottle or two from his wine cellar when he wasn’t looking.

When she finally found the chardonnay, she gripped both bottles in her hand and headed back for the stairs, only to stop right in her tracks when she heard the familiar, deep voice that was currently talking to her sister in the kitchen.

“...I know I should’ve done this a lot sooner,” Jax was saying to Willa, and Harper crept up the stairs inch by inch for better eaves-dropping position. “And I guess I just figured...after dinner a couple nights ago, that maybe everybody just needed a little space, too?”

“I understand, Jax,” Willa’s voice floated down the stairs too. “And I really should apologize for the way I -”

“No,” Jax cut in roughly. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I think I’ve had that comin’ for a long time, and I deserved it. But, maybe it’s a good thing it happened because I feel like both of us really got off on the wrong foot with each other, and...I’m sorry if you thought I didn’t like you, and I  _ am  _ really sorry for...makin’ assumptions about you and Tommy that I shouldn’t have made. That was none of my business.”

Harper felt her eyebrows lift in surprise, even as she leaned into the doorframe separating her and the kitchen so she could hear what was being said a little clearer.  _ This  _ was certainly interesting.

“And contrary to popular belief,” Jax pushed on with a light laugh. “I  _ do  _ like you, and I  _ am _ happy for you guys - I really am. Tommy talks about you all the time and -”

“Aw, come on, bro,” Tommy cut in. “Don’t be spillin’ all my secrets.”

Harper shook her head ruefully. The nerve of that guy to stand there in front of her sister and  _ joke  _ about that. She shook her head even more when she heard Willa’s light, melodic laugh bounce off the walls.

“A’ight, a’ight,” Jax laughed. “No worries, bro.”

_ I bet _ , Harper thought with an eye roll. 

This was pretty shrewd, too, and probably more than a little bit calculated, for Jax to purposefully choose to have this conversation with Willa, right when Tommy was in the room, and right where Tommy could hear everything that was said.

“But anyway,” Jax went on. “What I was  _ trying _ to say before this asshole over here interrupted me is that at the end of the day, I just want my brother to be happy, you know? And  _ you  _ make him happy. And we’re family now, and I just...I just really hope I haven’t fucked this up so bad already that you won’t give me a second chance. That’s all I’m sayin’.”

There was a short pause, and Harper could almost see Willa working through all that in her head. Willa was obviously the more gullible of the two Sullivan sisters, but in Willa’s defense, Jax really  _ did  _ sound sincere, and even a little bit remorseful too. Nothing like a drunken confession of epic proportions to slap some sense into the guy, but still…

Jax was a Teller. And in Harper’s experience, Tellers also had a tendency to be liars.

And from what she’d heard, they also were pretty good at smooth-talking women into doing whatever they wanted. Women like her sister, for instance.

And true to form, Willa fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. 

“Thanks, Jax,” she told him in a voice so soft Harper had to press her ear against the door to hear. “I really appreciate that. I’d like that too - a second chance, I mean.”

At this point, it didn’t even matter if Jax was sincere or not. Willa should’ve pushed back at least a  _ little  _ bit, if only because payback was a bitch. Make him work for it a little or something. But Willa had always been generous with her forgiveness, something Harper had certainly benefited from over the years, and she supposed she couldn’t fault Willa for just being a good human being. Even if being a good human being also meant Willa got taken advantage of from time to time too.

“And,” Jax sighed heavily. “I, uh...I’m really sorry I wasn’t...I mean, I shoulda been at the funeral a few weeks ago. That was a real dickhead thing to do, and I shouldn’t have done it. I was just in a really - look, there’s no excuse for it, okay? I shoulda been there, and I wasn’t, and I’m sorry.”

Harper frowned at the door in front of her, and pressed her ear to the door again. Hmm. He actually sounded legitimately apologetic. Almost like he  _ meant  _ the words he was saying to her sister right now. Tommy had been livid that Jax skipped their parents’ funeral, but Willa had been Willa about it. She’d genuinely given him a free pass, for the most part, because he’d just buried his best friend a few days before, and hadn’t wanted to make a big deal out of it. And Harper hadn’t really cared one way or the other - she’d been too busy dealing with things like catering and choosing matching caskets and a sister who was crying non-stop to worry about whether Tommy’s asshole older brother showed up for the funeral.

But, she  _ supposed _ , maybe he actually did feel bad about that now, knowing what they all knew now, and in light of how the most awkward dinner party of her life had played out. And if he did, then it was about time.

Freaking jerkface.

“Thanks, Jax,” Willa was saying now. “That means a lot. And I  _ do  _ understand why you kept your distance. I probably would’ve too, if I were you.”

_ Oh, come on, Willa,  _ Harper rolled her eyes again,  _ way to hold your ground and not give an inch. _

“Yeah, well, that still wasn’t much of an excuse. At least not a very good one, and I  _ am  _ sorry about that. I really am.”

Some silence followed that last part, and when she tilted her head to the side to listen, she heard some faint shuffling around in the kitchen, almost as if they were...yeah, she needed to get into that kitchen right now to see what was happening. With that, she opened the door, stepping out from the stairs leading to the basement, and took a careful perusal of the room: Jax had an arm wrapped around Willa’s shoulders to pull her into an awkward side-hug with Tommy hanging off to the side, leaning against the counter as he watched his wife and his brother wipe the slate clean.

Tommy’s eyes lifted up to meet Harper head-on, and his lips lifted ever so slightly in greeting.

If he thought _they_ were going to bury the hatchet today too, then he had another thing coming. Sure, they’d called a silent truce for Willa’s sake, but that didn’t mean she still wasn’t watching the guy like a hawk.

As if he could read her thoughts, Tommy’s mouth curved into a frown, and then he shifted his focus back on his wife and his brother, who’d since let his arm fall away from Willa’s shoulders and had stepped aside to put a little more comfortable distance between them. Jax shoved his hands deep in his pockets as he leaned a hip against the counter right across from Tommy, careful to keep his eyes anywhere but on Harper. 

Harper lifted up the bottles in her hand, and grinned to break up this somber mood a little. “Found the chardonnay, Will.  _ And  _ I stumbled across a very yummy-looking champagne while I was at it too.”

Willa just shook her head at her sister, but Harper ignored that reaction, choosing instead to side-step around the men in the kitchen so she could get to their wine glasses. But, Willa still took the refill when Harper offered it to her, only this time, Harper noted that her sister chose to sip from her glass, rather than gulp from it.

“Anything else you ladies need done around here?” Tommy called out as he draped an arm around his wife’s shoulders.

Harper wasn’t about to miss an opportunity when she saw one and dove right in: “Well, the lawn should probably be cut. Then there’s the deck furniture that we should probably do something with. Oh, and I think there was something with Dad’s car, right, Willa? The engine or maybe it’s the starter? Either way, that should  _ probably  _ get looked at before I can list it online, you know?”

While Tommy’s lips might’ve curled up a tiny bit in amusement, Jax, however, did not seem to find any of this even slightly entertaining. Instead, he folded his arms tightly across his leather kutte, cocking his head to the side as he appraised her, yet again, for like the millionth time. 

“I can take a look at the car,” Jax pushed out roughly, and then, as soon as the words left his lips, he pushed off the counter, side-stepped around her, and stalked down the hallway to head out to the garage.

That had worked out  _ perfectly,  _ seeing as how it got him out of this house and as far away from her as possible.

Then, Harper looked to her brother-in-law with a sly grin. He responded, of course, with a frown.

“Well, Tommy, I guess it looks like you’re mowing the lawn today.”

* * *

_ One Week Later _

Harper shuffled some invoices and set them carefully in their designated slot in the organizer on Gemma’s desk. Gemma had a meticulous system in place, and Harper was loath to mess with it, especially since it was actually a pretty great system that made a lot of sense.

And, although she’d never, ever, ever share this particular piece of information with her sister, Harper was starting to feel like maybe Gemma Teller-Morrow wasn’t so bad.

Just in  _ general _ . 

She wasn’t discounting Gemma’s also  _ general  _ mistreatment of Willa, but once she set that aside, and only focused on what she could see, Gemma really wasn’t  _ that  _ terrible. She had actually been pretty patient, pretty generous, and pretty easy to be around, for the most part. Harper also wasn’t married to Gemma’s son, so she supposed she had that going for her too. 

“Hey, I’ve got next week’s schedule ready for posting,” Gemma called out to her from the other side of the office. “I put you on for those shifts we talked about.”

“Sure,” Harper lifted a shoulder. 

With her training just about finished, Gemma had decided she was ready to take some opening and closing shifts on her own, which was fine. If Gemma thought she was ready, then she obviously was. She had a feeling Gemma was exactly the type of boss who didn’t pull any punches - if she’d had any other real experience with a boss in the first place.

“Ya know,” Gemma pulled her reading glasses off her nose and pointed them at her, almost as if she could read Harper’s thoughts. “I gotta say, I’m a little surprised how quickly you’re pickin’ all this shit up. Don’t take that the wrong way though - I mean, I figured you’d pick it up  _ quickly _ , but you’re a pretty fast learner, aren’t ya?”

Harper paused at that, trying to decide if there was some underhanded compliment there she needed to address first.

“Oh, and before I forget,” Gemma went on with a grin. “That part for the starter on your dad’s car was delivered this morning. I can probably have one of the guys here take care of it tomorrow night for you after hours, if you don’t mind hanging around a little bit later after your shift is done.”

“No, that’s fine. I’m sure I can keep myself busy while I wait,” Harper shrugged. “And thanks, by the way. I really appreciate the way you guys helped us with the car, and I know Willa does too.”

They  _ had _ , in fact, been pretty generous when it came to dealing with her parents’ cars. Jax had, with surprising efficiency, diagnosed the issue with her dad’s car as a starter problem, and he’d told Willa - not her - that it wasn’t really a serious issue since only one part of it needed to be replaced but it was an issue that should be fixed before they sold it. He’d had Gemma put in the order for the part the next day, and the shop hadn’t charged them for it either. He’d also, apparently out of the  _ goodness _ of his heart, taken a look at their mom’s car when Willa drove it over to T-M a few days ago and made sure it was all washed, vacuumed out, and ready to be listed for sale. And he’d done all that work without charging Willa a penny for his time at T-M.

Such a  _ nice _ guy, that brother-in-law of Willa’s. That was almost exactly what Willa had told her later too:  _ he’s nicer than I thought he was, Harper. Maybe I was sorta wrong about him. _

Right. And snakes didn’t hide in the grass.

Whatever. At least he  _ did _ seem to be making a real effort around Willa, even if it probably was just for Tommy’s sake. And at least he seemed to be sort of sincere in that effort too.

“You got any bites on your mom’s car yet?” Gemma asked her, tugging her out of that little revelry.

“Not yet,” she shrugged. “But it’s only been listed for two days. Her car is a little older than my dad’s though, so hopefully we can get rid of his a little bit faster once it’s ready to go.”

And, then they’d just have to turn around and throw the money from sales at the debt looming over their shoulders. Which wouldn’t really do all that much anyway, since her parents had really owned her mom’s car outright and still had a loan that needed to be paid off on her dad’s. As it turned out, there hadn’t been all that much her parents really owned outright, and had only left behind a legacy of loans that needed to be paid and a credit card balance that still made her eyes water when she thought about it.

“Well, when your dad’s car is ready to go, we’ll just park it right next to your mom’s and hope it moves quickly.”

Harper smiled at her gratefully. “Thanks, I appreciate that.”

“That wasn’t a bad idea, you know, keepin’ the cars here on the lot and havin’ people come here to take a look at them instead of sendin’ them by you at your parents’ house,” Gemma told her a wry smile playing on her lips. 

“I know, right?” Harper laughed a little too easily, given her present company. “Look at me, being all responsible and everything.”

Gemma laughed right along with her, but it  _ did  _ feel strange - the weight of this responsibility, especially since she’d never really had any actual responsibility before to speak of. She’d managed to make it through the first 29 years of her life without really needing to worry about anything, by habit and by sheer will, through some luck and a  _ whole _ lot of finesse. But, for the first time in her life, she’d had to stop moving and actually be an adult about something.

It was weird. It didn’t quite  _ fit  _ either, at least not the way it seemed like it should.

But she also wasn’t about to leave Willa holding the bag either.

“Hey, you know,” Gemma tilted her head to the side in thought, regarding Harper a little more seriously than before. “If you ever need any help with all the stuff with your parents...you know you can ask, right? I know Willa may not feel comfortable askin’ me about it, and I suppose that’s my fault, but if you’ve got questions about how to handle something - even if I don’t know the answers, I’m sure I could help you figure out who to talk to in town that could help.”

Harper took a moment to sort of just let all that sink in. That was  _ exactly  _ the kind of thing that, had Gemma said to Willa, probably would’ve made Willa cry with joy, and maybe a little bit of relief too. But beggars couldn’t really be choosers, and she figured Willa also didn’t have to know if she chose to take Gemma up on that offer either.

“Thanks,” Harper finally allowed with a smile. “I appreciate that too. I don’t really know much about all this. I’m just kinda winging it on a hope and a prayer. I might have to take you up on that.”

Of course it didn’t help that her sister just wasn’t really in the right headspace at the moment to make any real, serious decisions about anything involving her parents’ estate, or lack thereof, and so the brunt of all this aftermath really  _ had _ fallen to Harper.

And again, as if the woman was some kinda mind-reader, Gemma’s lips twisted up sadly as she called out, “I take it Willa’s still pretty…”

“Well,” Harper lifted a shoulder. “She had to decide to pull the plug on  _ both _ our parents. I figured the least I could do was pick up as much of the rest of it as I could.”

That was enough to draw Gemma’s eyes to the floor, and hopefully, put some things in perspective for her. Even if Gemma didn’t know all the details surrounding Tommy and Willa’s decision to get married so suddenly, she  _ had  _ to at least see the extreme stress Willa had been under these last few weeks, and she  _ had  _ to at least feel some kind of sympathy for her. If her oldest son could muster up some decency, then she figured Gemma could too.

Gemma’s red-painted lips opened to respond just as Jax breezed into the office, swinging a set of keys around his index finger.

“Hey, Ma. That Pontiac is all set to go,” he called out to her, a smug smirk working its way across his face as he tucked some of that chin-length blonde hair behind an ear. He really was a hottie boom body - a hottie boom body in need of a haircut who was too hot for his own good and who’d probably use those good looks to get away with murder if the occasion called for it.

Gemma glanced up at him with a sly glint in her eye, shifting her eyes to Harper only once, and then sliced them to her son again before drawing her eyes back down to the paperwork in front of her as she called out, “Thanks, Jax. Why don’t you hand it off to Harper - give her some more practice with the customers.”

His steps stalled and that smug smirk on his face slipped just enough to make the grin on Harper’s face widen. And because she just couldn’t help herself, she rose up out of her chair and closed the distance between them with her hand extended, wiggling her fingers at him just because it was fun.

“Keys please,” she grinned.

Jax’s blue eyes hardened as he studied her, his chest heaving once underneath his blue T-M workshirt. Then after a beat, he blew out an exasperated breath through his nostrils and tossed her the keys.

“Thank you,” Harper sang out in a syrupy-sweet,  _ fake  _ voice, winking at him as she side-stepped around him with the keys and the customer’s invoice in hand.

Something about that must’ve set him off because he was right on top of her four-inch wedge heels two seconds later, trailing after her as she made her way over to the owner of the Pontiac, who she’d checked in about an hour earlier. Since he was clearly just begging for a reaction from her, Harper focused her attention on the customer in the waiting room, despite the fact that Jax was now standing two inches behind her, as if he didn’t trust her to handle any of this by herself without screwing it up, as if his _mother_ hadn’t already trained her on this process _last_ week.

“Hey there,” Harper waved to the customer and then held out the keys to him. “You’re all set to go,” she hooked a thumb over her shoulder at the douche-nozzle behind her, “Jax took great care of your car and got everything all patched up with your muffler and replaced your brake pads for you. Here’s the paperwork that lists everything he did for you today, and oh, before I forget to tell you,” she pointed down at some of Jax’s completely illegible chicken scratches on the invoice report, drawing the customer’s attention down as well, “he made a note right here that you’re due for an oil change in about a month. Do you want to make that appointment right away when we cash out? That way you don’t have to worry about it later, you know?”

“Oh sure,” their customer agreed easily. “That sounds like a good idea.”

“Might as well get everything all squared away, right?” Harper grinned, waving the customer over to the desk inside the garage where they cashed every invoice out, and she got to work making that appointment for the oil change right away too, careful to avoid Jax’s gaze the entire time, who  _ still _ , in spite of everything, hadn’t backed down.

After walking the customer to the edge of the garage and pointing out where Jax had parked the Pontiac in T-M’s lot, Harper turned on her heel with a smug grin, not at all surprised to find Jax still standing by the desk, his hands shoved deep inside his front pockets and a deep scowl written across his handsome face.

She turned that smug smile on her face into a snide one, flipping some of her curly hair over her shoulder and making sure it hit him right in the face as she brushed past him.

* * *

Jax blew out an irritated breath, shifting on his heel just long enough to see Harper wiggle her fingers at him from her shoulder, that pompous, self-congratulatory little smirk still lingering on her lips as she stepped back inside the office. Her perfume was still lingering in the air where he stood too - a citrusy musk that reminded him a little bit of bottled sunshine. He fucking  _ hated _ it.

So maybe she wasn’t completely incompetent. Apparently, according to his mother, she was also picking up the procedures in the office pretty damn quickly too.

That probably _shouldn’t_ have been a surprise. She was obviously a hustler who also just might be an evil genius too, considering the way she used her looks to charm and disarm left and right. That poor customer she’d just cashed out had been too busy alternating between staring at her face and staring at her tits to realize that note he’d supposedly made on the invoice about an oil change was _actually_ non-existent.

Evil genius was probably too generous and complimentary now that he really thought about it. That girl was a psychopath, plain and simple.

And now he stood there, waffling between telling Gemma about the way her new little office buddy had just played a customer and just letting the whole thing play itself out. Sooner or later, that shit was bound to come back and bite her in the ass anyway, and he just hoped he’d be on a shift the day it did so he had a front row seat.

“Hey,” he heard Juice’s voice behind him, and Jax turned on his heel to find his club brother standing a few feet away from him as he wiped his greasy hands on a rag.

“‘Sup, bro?”

Juice tilted his head to the side a little, trying to get another look inside the office. “That chick’s gonna be good for business, huh?”

Jax squinted at him with one eye open as he scratched the back of his neck in thought. “I wouldn’t get too close if I were you.”

“Why’s that?” Juice laughed, tossing his dirty rag in a bin. “I know she’s Tommy’s sister-in-law and everything, but that doesn’t make her off-limits though, does it? Or, wait, unless it does? I don’t know the rules about that shit.”

“The rules are there are no rules,” Jax smirked at him, but then he hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward the office. “ _ Except  _ when it comes to con artists like that one. She might look pretty and all, but the hair, the clothes, the charm...that’s all part of her game, bro. Keep your wallet close and your dick in your pants when it comes to her and you’ve got nothin’ to worry about.”

“Huh,” Juice pushed out with a frown, shoving his hands in pockets as he mulled all that over. “I guess that explains why her and Gemma get along so well.”

Jax huffed out a laugh and shook his head. “I guess so. My mom’s no stranger to a con here and there herself.”

“Birds of a feather, right?” Juice smirked. “Well, hey, thanks for the heads-up. Gemma’s got me workin’ on her dad’s car tomorrow ‘cuz that part you ordered came in. I’ll be sure to keep one eye on my wallet at all times, bro.”

Jax laughed as Juice shot him a quick salute, but then the grin on his face faded a little when he got a good look at the two men who were getting out of an Audi parked in T-M’s lot. Juice immediately turned his head to see what Jax was staring at, and then jerked his head back toward Jax, looking to him for some direction. About two seconds later, Clay strolled out of the clubhouse with Tig and Happy trailing after him and he waved the two men over, almost as if he’d been expecting them to show up right now.

“That fuckin’ son of a bitch,” Jax muttered under his breath.

Was this just another power play? Keeping Jax out of the loop on purpose whenever he felt like it? Clay couldn’t pull this kind of shit, and take a meeting like this, without letting him know first. That wasn’t how this was supposed to work - he was fucking vice president, and Clay was shitting all over that just because he thought he could. Just because he thought he had some kind of hold over him, when  _ he  _ was the one who’d ordered a hit on one of their brothers a few weeks ago. When  _ he  _ was the one abusing his power and his position and his influence.

With that thought, Jax stalked out of the garage, giving Juice a signal to stay inside from over his shoulder, and headed right for the pow wow happening in the middle of the parking lot. He sidled up to them just as Clay reached out to shake hands with the guy in the suit, and now that he was up close, Jax had a pretty good idea who the suit and his buddy were.

Clay shot him an irritated glance out of the corner of his eye as Jax thrust his hand out to the guy in the suit.

“Jax Teller,” he told him, tipping his chin to the suit in greeting.

The suit nodded to him with a knowing grin and shook his hand. “Ethan Zobelle,” and then he gestured to the rough-looking guy next to him with squinty eyes, “and this is my associate, AJ Weston. We were just stopping by for a quick chat and to introduce ourselves.”

“I see,” Jax grinned, lifting his eyebrows at Clay as he folded his arms across his blue workshirt. Judging from the smug grin on Zobelle’s face, introductions hadn’t been necessary, at least on their end. Zobelle and his associate had known exactly who each of them were before they’d pulled into this lot.

“So I heard,” Clay pulled his cigar out from between his teeth as he spoke, “that you and your associate were tryin’ to get a meeting with the Niners not too long ago.”

“That’s right,” Zobelle tilted his head to the side, that smug grin still etched on his face.

“And now here you are,” Clay spread his arms out with a flourish, and Jax fought the urge to roll his eyes at the little show, “rollin’ up into our town, into our lot. Kinda makes a guy wonder what game you’re runnin’, gentlemen.”

“Well,” Zobelle laughed easily and with the kind of charm a snake oil salesman might have. “It’s no  _ game,  _ I can assure you. My associate and I are looking to expand our business ventures, and Charming seems like it could be a prime location for one of my cigar shops,” he gestured to the cigar in Clay’s hand, “and from the looks of it, I think I might be right.”

“Sure,” Clay threw out good-naturedly. “I’ll be your first customer.”

“I thought you might be,” Zobelle grinned at him. “And while we’re on that subject, we’ve got some more,  _ sensitive _ , if you will, business to attend to here, and I was hoping I could set a formal meeting with you and some members of your club at a later time to discuss that business.”

He paused at that, pointedly glancing around at the busy parking lot full of T-M’s employees and customers. Right - because whatever their  _ real  _ business was here in Charming had nothing to do with opening a legitimate cigar shop, and that business probably needed to be conducted away from prying eyes who weren’t connected to the club.

“I think that could be arranged,” Clay tossed out. “Whatdya say, tomorrow night? Right here? Nine o’clock?”

There’d be no one around then, and they’d be on the club’s turf. Seemed like a fair play, if it was completely Clay’s play to make, which it absolutely wasn’t.

Zobelle glanced at Weston just long enough to see his associate nod tightly, and then Zobelle turned back to Clay with a satisfied grin. “That’s fine with us.”

Clay shot his hand out again, and Zobelle didn’t hesitate to shake on it.

“Tomorrow night then,” Clay nodded to him.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Zobelle nodded back to him, and then grinned at Jax, Tig, and Happy as he turned on his heel with a wave. “Gentlemen. We’ll see you tomorrow night.”

Jax’s chin dipped down into a nod, and he watched Zobelle and Weston saunter back over to their Audi. He wondered fleetingly if that Audi was a lease - these guys, especially Zobelle, seemed exactly the type to flaunt wealth and status at any cost, and especially if that wealth and status was really just an illusion.

The vibes those guys gave off, the air of superiority Zobelle walked around with...Jax didn’t like it and he  _ definitely  _ didn’t like seeing it walk around on Samcro property. Throw in the connection to a white nationalist group like LOAN, and this whole shit was just bad news, especially since the club was already well aware that they’d been making the rounds.

“I don’t know, Clay,” Jax leaned into murmur to him once that Audi was off the lot. “I gotta bad feeling about this. Maybe we should take it to the table before we meet with him. We can always call it off if that’s the way the table votes.”

Clay shot him an exasperated glance and shook his head with a smirk. “We don’t gotta vote on a  _ meeting _ , Jax. That’s all this is anyway - just a fuckin’ meeting. We talk to them when the air’s clear around here, find out what they want, what they’re doin’ here, and then, if need be,  _ that’s  _ when we take it to the table.”

“Sure,” Jax narrowed his eyes at his club president and step-father. “That’s all true, but don’t ya think it’s telling that the Niners wouldn’t even give them a sit-down? I bet they move in on Alvarez next, if they haven’t already. I say we just call it off and let them blow outta here on their own.”

“And  _ I  _ say,” Clay took an aggressive step forward as he spoke. “We keep the meeting and find out what these pricks are after.”

“What’s the fuckin’ point, Clay? We’re just gonna show them the door anyway.”

Clay just shook his head, shooting a wary glance at his lapdog, Tig, as he wrapped his lips around his cigar again. “You don’t know that. And you don’t know that ‘cuz we don’t know what they’re after yet.”

“Right,” Jax’s lips curled back into a slight snarl. He was just about done with Clay’s self-righteous act. “Just like I didn’t know those asshole were showin’ up here today either. Don’t tell me you didn’t know they were comin’. Don’t even  _ try  _ to pull that shit with me, Clay.”

“Hey,” his club prez held up his hands with a cocky grin. “I don’t gotta tell you every little thing that happens around here.”

“Fuck you,” Jax spat at him, taking his own aggressive step forward to match Clay’s stance. “That’s bullshit and you know it. You absolutely  _ do  _ gotta tell me what’s goin’ on around here, and I shouldn’t have had to find out they were comin’ when they rolled into our lot just now. That’s not how this works - and that’s  _ not _ how you fuckin’ run this club.”

Clay’s eyebrows lifted in challenge, and he stepped right up to Jax until he was nose to nose with his VP. “Oh, really? So now you think you can tell me how to run this club?”

“Sure,” Jax snarled back, not moving an inch. “‘Cuz you’re doin’ such a bang-up job of it, right?”

His reward for that was Clay shoving him right in the chest, making him stagger back a few paces, which was fine, because that was the reaction he’d been hoping for. Since Clay made the first move, he was well within his rights to retaliate, and he wasn’t going to waste an opportunity to punch the fucker when he had it coming. 

Jax reared his fist back before slamming it right in Clay’s face. His prez stumbled, regained his footing just as quickly, and then he pounced on Jax, getting in two solid punches before Jax pushed back, barreling his fist into the old man’s face until Tig and Happy pulled them both away.

Jax shoved out of Tig’s grip, not wanting to be anywhere near  _ that  _ son of a bitch too, and stalked over to one of the picnic tables by the shop. 

“If you freeze me outta that meeting, I swear -” he started to call over his shoulder, but Clay’s angry voice cut him off.

“Oh, don’t worry, son. I wouldn’t fuckin’ dare, ‘cuz then I’d have to sit here and listen to you tell me how to run a club that’s not yours.”

“Fuck you,” Jax hissed over his shoulder, but he didn’t bother turning back around to face him. There were too many eyes on them right now to take this any further. It had gone far enough anyway, especially since his mother had ventured outside the office and now stood on the steps with her hands on her hips and a deep frown on her face.

Good. Let her be upset.

She should be, considering who she was sleeping with every night.

He hopped up on top of the picnic table, planted his feet on the bench, and dug into the pocket of his T-M workshirt for his cigarettes. The knuckles on his right hand were already stiffening up and throbbing but it was worth it. He’d punch Clay every day in the face for the rest of his life if he could.  _ That _ might actually make him feel a little better too.

This was all just fucking bullshit anyway. They had no business taking a meeting with anybody connected with the LOAN, at least not without finding out what they wanted first. And now, they’d probably have to rope Tommy into it because he needed to know what was going on just as much as the club did.

After lighting up a cigarette and taking in a few long, healthy pulls, he rubbed at the sharp pain shooting through his chest. Sometimes, putting some pressure on the spot right over his heart helped ebb the ache away, and sometimes it didn’t. And he’d even remembered to take his meds this morning like a good boy, too.

His head jerked down at the table when an ice pack landed two inches away from him, and then his eyes shifted to his left, where a pair of long, bare legs was standing next to the picnic table. With a heavy sigh, he tilted his head up to get a better look at her with a cocked eyebrow.

“Your mom asked me to bring that out to you,” Harper told him easily, pointing to the ice pack next to him. “She also told me I could take my break now.”

Jax glanced over his shoulder to find Gemma perched by the office window, watching the interaction with an amused smirk playing on her lips. Oh, sure, he bet his mother thought this was  _ really  _ funny too.  _ So  _ fucking funny. He opted not to respond, choosing instead to face forward so he didn’t have to see his mother’s amused gloating and so he didn’t have to deal with the psycho in the short dress and heels standing next to him.

“You kinda seem like a guy that gets punched in the face a lot,” Harper called out to him, making him turn his head toward her on reflex alone. She grinned when she saw she had his attention, unfortunately, and went on, drawing a little circle near his face with her open palm, “You know, because your face is always so super-effed every time I see you.”

“Yeah, well,” he grumbled, flicking some ash from his cigarette as he spoke. “Maybe I like gettin’ punched in the face.”

“Sure, and I like  _ working  _ for a living.”

His lips quirked up a little at that, despite his best efforts, and he shot her an easy grin as he propped his elbows up on his knees. “Sure looked like you enjoyed takin’ that customer for a ride back there before.”

Harper just lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know what you mean.”

He cocked a wary eyebrow at her. “I don’t recall makin’ a note on his invoice that he was due for an oil change.”

“Well,” she put her hands on her hips in defiance. “Gemma told me it was okay to up-sell, and there was no way I  _ could’ve  _ known if that note was there one way or another because I couldn’t read your handwriting.”

“Oh,” his eyebrows lifted in amusement. “So it’s my fault?”

“That’s not what I said,” Harper narrowed her hazel eyes at him a little bit suspiciously. “I’m just saying you should work on your penmanship is all. Customers need to be able to read your notes, and so do I if I’m supposed to give them the right information.”

His jaw worked around a grin that was filled with more amusement than it was irritation, and he wagged a finger at her. “Point taken, and hey, thanks for the reminder never to let you in my house. I’d have to watch you like a hawk, and I don’t feel like doin’ that anytime soon.”

Harper’s pretty face pulled into a crinkled grimace, and then she frowned at him. “ _ You  _ have a house?”

“Sure do,” he laughed. “Why is that such a big surprise?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged a little too easily. “I just figured you lived in the clubhouse. Why would you buy a house when you could just live there for free?”

And now, given what he already knew about this girl, he figured if he  _ had  _ to sit out here and sulk after a fistfight, at least his mother had decided to send him some entertainment. Part of him wondered how much longer it would take for her to name-drop some fucking celebrity she thought she knew. And he had to admit, he was a little impressed she’d yet to broach the subject of  _ why  _ he’d gotten into that fistfight in the first place. If she was smart, she wouldn’t touch that one with a 50-foot pole.

“Well, princess,” he smirked at her as he flicked his spent cherry out into the pavement. “Some people actually like to  _ own _ something rather than just get it for free. You know, put their name on somethin’ they can call their own. Somethin’ kinda like that.”

“Oh, please,” Harper just batted a hand at him. “I  _ always  _ get my name on everything.”

“Like what?” his eyebrows lifted, and he dug into his front pocket again for his cigarette pack. He took one out for himself, and then held it out to her with a smirk. She shrugged, sliding one out of the pack, and leaned forward when he held out an open flame for her. He was the furthest thing from a gentleman, but at least he knew how to  _ pretend _ to be one.

“Like my car, for instance,” she answered once she got her cigarette lit and exhaled a little stream of smoke.

“But you didn’t pay for it.”

“No shit, Sherlock. Of _course_ I didn’t pay for it. But my name’s on the title, so you know what that means. Besides, I consider it a parting gift for the way I walked in on Eddie and that Becky with the Good Hair. I always knew Eddie wasn’t _super_ great in bed, but it was pretty easy to see from that vantage point. All that grunting and thrusting wasn’t attractive, if you know what I mean. So, as far as I’m concerned, Becky can _have_ him.”

He barked out a laugh and shook his head. “I’d ask what you were doin’ with him if he wasn’t good in bed, but I think I already know the answer to that. Why’d you even bother with the engagement shit though?”

“He asked,” Harper just shrugged, and she narrowed her eyes again when his shoulders started to shake with laughter. “He was actually fun to be around, and he wasn’t  _ terrible  _ in bed by any means, but he wasn’t the  _ best  _ either. Besides, it’s not like either of us would’ve actually gone through with it, so there’s that.”

“‘Course,” Jax grinned. “Why would anyone ever get engaged and plan on actually gettin’ married?”

She chose to completely ignore that, tapping some ash from her cigarette in annoyance, and curling a fist underneath her elbow as she brought her cigarette back up to her lips.

“So what other kinda shit do you get in your name then?” he prompted. He was enjoying being on the other end of this with her, and letting her know, not-so-subtly, exactly what he thought of her so-called adventures and tall tales. Not to mention that it was actually a decent distraction from the shit he’d just been in the middle of only a few minutes before.

Harper studied him carefully for a moment, tilting her head to the side as she considered whether to answer him, and then she allowed, “Oh, you know, like, jewelry. My engagement ring, for example.”

“Uh huh,” he grinned. “I’m sure you’re lookin’ forward to keepin’ that somewhere nice and safe for a rainy day, huh?”

“No,” she told him pointedly. “I pawned that already. Not that it even put much of a dent in my parents’ debt, but you know how it is.”

That one caught him off-guard for a second. He hadn’t been expecting that, not because she seemed like the kind of girl who’d hang onto something like an engagement ring from a broken engagement out of spite because she definitely seemed like the kind of girl who’d turn around and do exactly what she did with it, but he was more surprised that the money from said engagement ring had gone toward something other than herself. But, he figured, he also didn’t know her very well, and he didn’t care to either.

“And,” Harper went on, almost as if she could sense the shift in mood and wanted to shift them back to something lighter. “I also get my name on things like stock certificates - like that time I dated that lousy stockbroker on Wall Street. He wasn’t  _ great  _ at trading, but at least he got me a few decent shares, which I guess I should probably sell now too. And you know, things like credit cards, just as long as the payments aren’t coming from my account. That sorta thing.”

“Ah,” his lips twisted with amusement with a nod. “Makes sense. Seeing as how you wouldn’t wanna get pinned for credit card fraud again, huh?”

“So I got caught  _ once _ ,” Harper shot back. “Big deal. I learned my lesson and moved on.”

“ _ And  _ talked your way out of any real consequences, I’m guessing.”

Her lips curled up in a snide smile and she flipped some of her long, curled hair over her shoulder. He couldn’t quite decide what color her hair actually was though. The bottom half of her hair was blonde, with it blending into a darker color at her roots, so she really wasn’t a blonde, but she really wasn’t a brunette either. Same thing with her eyes - they weren’t blue, but they weren’t  _ really  _ green. Everything about her was somewhere in between, like she was some kind of shapeshifter, and that seemed to fit her too.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Not really, princess,” his lips curled into a grin around his cigarette. “I’m just here to pass the time and cool off for a bit.”

“Sure,” her dark eyebrows lifted knowingly. “Like I said. You seem like the kinda guy who gets punched in the face a lot.”

“And you,” he pointed a finger at her, “seem like the kinda girl who skates by through life gettin’ rich guys to pay for everythin’ for her.”

She just lifted a shoulder and sniffed a little. “Not all the guys I get to pay for things are rich, you know.”

“Sure, princess,” he laughed. “I’ll believe that shit when I see it.”

Her eyebrows lifted in amusement now. “I got  _ you _ to pay for the pizza at Tommy and Willa’s house, didn’t I?”

His movements stilled, and the hand bringing his cigarette to his mouth paused in mid-air as he considered what she’d just said...and  _ fuck.  _ He  _ had  _ paid for the goddamn pizza that night, and he’d done it because she’d prompted him to. He also hadn’t said a word to Tommy about it either because he’d already felt like a pile of shit for what happened before they’d needed to order a pizza in the first place. And then he realized what else she was implying...that  _ he  _ obviously wasn’t rich, but she’d still gotten him to pay.

So, on top of being a psychopathic, pathological lying hustler, she was a bitch too.

“Alright,” he grumbled through a heavy sigh. “You got me  _ once _ . Don’t count on that happenin’ a second time.”

“Whatever you say,” she smiled a little too sweetly to be genuine, and then she pushed on before he had time to react. “Besides, I don’t  _ always _ get guys to pay for things. That’s a little sexist too, don’t you think? There are plenty of ways to get around needing a man to pay.”

“Like what?” he grinned back at her. “Stealing?”

Her nose crinkled up at that and she furiously shook her head. “No.  _ Stealing  _ is kind of a dirty word, I think. I don’t  _ steal  _ \- well, there was this one time I said I was a cater-waiter to get into Ivanka and Jared’s Hanukkah party at the Four Seasons a few years ago. That was before they moved to D.C., and before they decided they were politicians, so the security wasn’t that great. It really wasn’t that hard,” she shrugged, “all I had to do was wear the white button-down and black pants and sneak in the back by the delivery doors and I was in the building. I grabbed one of the menorahs, and two of those blue candle things they had all around the room, and then I zipped out of there when the New York Synagogue Choir started singing right after brisket and latkes. So, I guess,  _ that  _ time I was stealing.”

Jax stared back at her for a moment, feeling that familiar irritation and annoyance where she was concerned flare back up again. How she could just stand there and come up with this shit, right off the cuff like that, was beyond him. But because he had nothing better to do at the moment, and didn’t really feel like going back to work yet, he decided to play along just to see how far she was willing to dig her high heels in.

“A’ight,” he flicked some ash from his cigarette with a smirk. “How’d you smuggle the menorah outta there?”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek in thought, almost as if she was trying to trick him into thinking it was just her memory that was failing, and not that she was trying to come up with another lie.

“Well, the menorah I put down the back of my shirt, and then I just had to keep my back to the wall, which wasn’t that hard to do as a cater-waiter anyway, and the  _ candles  _ I had to stuff down my pants, and then the whole thing ended up becoming this weird, Yentl situation that I’m not proud of.”

He eyed her carefully, pausing long enough to sort through all the lies in one sitting.

“ _ Bullshit _ , princess. That’s all pure  _ bullshit _ ,” and then he pointed a finger at her, “See, the problem is that I’d actually have to take you seriously in order to even be  _ slightly _ offended at the way you lied right to my face just now.”

“Well,” Harper chirped back, lifting a shoulder nonchalantly. “See, I’d actually have to  _ care  _ what you thought of me in order to be  _ slightly  _ offended at the way you chose not to believe me just now.”

His shoulders shook with laughter, and he just shook his head at her in amusement. “Nothin’ about what you just told me is true. Why would you even wanna steal that shit from a party like that anyway - if that story was true, which it’s  _ not. _ ”

“‘Cuz it sounded like fun at the time,” she shrugged. “And I was dared. Besides, I kinda feel like Ivanka and Jared had it coming, you know?”

“So you were  _ dared _ ?” Jax shook his head at her. Now, some annoyance ticked down his jaw. She really  _ was  _ going to dig her heels in and stick to this aisine story. “Your sister know you pull this kinda shit all the time?”

Her eyebrows lifted knowingly. “Who do you think dared me?”

And now, he found himself caught off-guard for the second time since they’d started talking. He’d really just been asking if Willa had any clue that Harper spun these kinds of stories left and right, not if Willa was actually  _ in  _ on the lies and the stories. He chewed on his bottom lip in thought, studying her with hard eyes and was just about done putting up with her shit for the day.

“Go ahead and ask her about it if you really don’t believe me. She’s got that menorah and those candles in a box somewhere.”

Jax’s eyes narrowed dangerously and he jabbed the hand holding his cigarette at her angrily. “That’s a real shitty thing to do - draggin’ your sister into your fuckin’ stories like this.”

“Okay,” she shrugged. “Just because you think she’s all innocent and stupid and everything, doesn’t mean she actually  _ is  _ any of those things. And while we’re on the topic of my sister, just because you’re kinda sorta being nice to her now doesn’t erase how shitty you’ve been to her from the beginning, and it doesn’t mean you suddenly get to run this protective, big brother act around her now either.  _ She  _ may forgive easily, but  _ I  _ don’t. And I don’t forget either.”

He blew out an aggravated sigh, and yanked a hand through his hair. “Fuckin’ excuse me for tryin’ to make things right with her, okay? And I  _ don’t  _ think she’s innocent and stupid, just so you know.”

Well, that wasn’t entirely true, but he wasn’t about to admit that to Harper right now either.

“She’s  _ not  _ innocent and stupid,” Harper dug her heels in again, shooting him a hard, dark glare that put him on edge. “She’s purposefully ignorant. There’s a big difference. And if anyone is a liar around here, it’s definitely not me.”

He felt his eyes narrow again, and his shoulders tensed dangerously as he flicked his cigarette bud out onto the pavement. Then he turned his head to meet her square in the eye, finding her staring back at him, challenging him to call her bluff.

“If I were you,” he told her darkly. “I’d keep my mouth shut about that kinda shit. See, that’s the kinda shit that _does_ offend me, and I gotta admit - I thought you were this stupid, airheaded Valley girl with no real skills and nothin’ to bring to the table when you first blew into town. I was wrong about that, clearly, but _that_ bein’ said, don’t make the mistake of walkin’ around here thinkin’ you’re smarter than the rest of us, ‘cuz you’re not. I know exactly what you think of Tommy, and whether you’re right or wrong, this isn’t the place to be pullin’ your usual shit and we’re not the kinda people you really wanna fuck with, not to mention piss off, and right about now, you’re _really_ pissin’ me off.”

Harper studied him carefully, tilting her head to the side as she took stock of his warning. If she was smart, she’d walk away from him right now before either of them said or did something they’d regret later.

“Well,” she told him with a sly smile. “If I had any doubts about whether  _ exactly  _ what I think of Tommy was right or wrong, you pretty much solved that dilemma for me just now. So, thanks for that,” and then she tapped the invisible watch on her wrist with a grin, “Oh, would you look at that. My break’s over,” now she was backpedalling away from the picnic table, waving at him brightly, “Bye! See you  _ never _ !”

He watched her hike back toward the office in those stupid high-heeled sandals. And against his better judgment, he felt his lips quirk up at the corners as he finally grabbed that ice pack she’d brought him and held it to his throbbing knuckles.

Yeah, princess was anything but stupid.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Thank you to everyone who's read and commented! If you're liking this, please let me know because that really helps keep me going!
> 
> The next chapter will really kick this story in gear when the trigger officially gets pulled ;)


	5. Chapter Five

Harper glanced at the clock on the wall and blew out a heavy sigh. Her shift had ended well over two hours ago, and the shop was officially shutting down to customers then, and she  _ should’ve  _ left over two hours ago too, except for the fact that she had elected to stay for an undetermined amount of time, after hours, so one of T-M’s mechanics could fix the starter on her dad’s car, all for the sake of stupid things like responsibility and saving money.

But beggars definitely couldn’t be choosers. Gemma had arranged all this for her and hadn’t charged her a dime. It wasn’t like Harper wouldn’t have paid the invoice, had Gemma written one up, but she also wasn’t about to protest. The shop was booked solid with appointments, and the only way to actually get the work done, and without cutting into time for paying customers, was to take care of it after hours.

So, here she was, stretching out the closing procedures as long as she could to keep busy - finalizing the next day’s schedule, making sure all the day’s paid invoices were processed and filed, putting the cash drawer in the safe, and checking the shop’s email one more time before shutting the computer down for the day. None of that was really difficult, and it was more just a matter of remembering everything, which wasn’t all that hard either, considering that Gemma had a meticulous checklist for the opening and closing procedures all ready to go.

She glanced out into the shop from the office’s glass window, and found Juice still hard at work on her dad’s car. That mechanic had been pretty cordial to her, if not a little distant, and she figured that was okay. The tattoos on his head weren’t exactly her thing, and she suspected, on sheer instinct only and maybe in part because of the tattoos, that he was also a member of Samcro, even though she’d never seen him walking around the lot in a kutte. At least not  _ yet.  _ There was usually so much going on in the office during her shifts that the only time she really got to step outside the office was on her breaks, and she tended to stay away from the picnic tables, especially if a certain blonde jerkface was  _ also  _ taking his break at that time.

Luckily enough, her phone started buzzing on the desk, and she swiped across the screen to answer it with a smile.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Harper,” her sister chirped from the other side of the line. She had to grin at the sound of Willa’s voice - she actually sounded pretty happy today, and these days, that was hard to come by.

“Hi, Will. What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just wondering what you were up to tonight.”

Hmm.  _ That _ was interesting, and usually not the type of play Willa usually ran. Usually, Willa just came out with whatever she wanted to say or whatever it was she wanted to do. They’d never really kept things from each other either, save for that one, really big secret Willa had kept about her literal shot-gun wedding with Tommy two months ago, but then again, Willa had good reason for that. Even if, now that she’d had some time to process the news, Harper was a teeny tiny bit disappointed that Willa had still felt, for reasons she really did understand, that she couldn’t tell her sister something like that. 

“So, you called just to find out what I was up to tonight…”

_ Something  _ was up. This whole conversation could be done over text if that was really all Willa was after.

“Uh huh,” Willa went on nonchalantly. “So what are you up to tonight?”

Harper chewed on the inside of her cheek as she turned off the office’s computer and leaned back in the chair. She tilted her chin up toward the window to the garage and found Juice still tinkering away.

“Well, I’m still at the shop. One of the mechanics here is fixing the starter on Dad’s car, so I might be here for a little while yet.”

“Oh, okay,” Willa replied a little too quickly and a little too easily, like just the mention of one of their parents, and any of their possessions, needed to be completely and totally swept under the rug. “Are you working late tomorrow night too?”

“Uh, no, actually. I’m opening tomorrow, so I should be done at around 5 or 6, depending on how the day goes.”

Wow. She couldn’t believe she’d just said all that out loud. Somehow, someway, she’d landed on a job and serious responsibility, and it wasn’t  _ terrible _ . Sure, if given the option to work all day or not work all day, she knew what she’d pick, but if she  _ had  _ to work, she really didn’t mind being at the shop. The customers were usually interesting and fun to talk to - same with her boss and the employees in the shop, with one exception - and while she wasn’t all that interested in the mechanical aspects of what the shop did, it certainly wasn’t the worst place she could’ve landed, if she had to land somewhere.

“Perfect,” Willa was saying now. 

And just like that, Harper’s intuition sprung to life. “Really? Why is that?”

“I was just thinking that we should try having that dinner party again - you know, considering the first one I tried to have turned into an epic disaster the likes of which have never been seen before. I feel like I wanna give it another shot, if you’re open to it.”

“Alright,” Harper let that roll for now just to see where this was going to go. “And who are you planning to invite to this dinner party?”

There was a slight pause, and Harper nodded to herself with a heavy sigh. Ah. That’s what was going on here. Plain and simple.

“Well, you know how I said that Jax has actually been pretty nice to me lately?”

“Yep.”

Willa laughed lightly through the phone, and Harper felt her eyes narrowing, even if her sister couldn’t see that right now.

“He really has,” Willa reiterated, almost as if she really could see her sister’s reaction from over the phone. “And he was really great with that stuff with the cars, and ordering that part, and I don’t know...I was thinking I’d invite him too and then we can all give it another try. What do you think?”

“Oh, so you mean  _ I’m  _ invited too?”

“Did you really think you  _ weren’t _ ?” Willa’s melodic laugh echoed through the phone. “Of course you’re invited.”

“Uh huh.”

“And I was thinking I’d try the roasted chicken again, and get some wine, and the guys could have their beer, and then, I don’t know, I guess we’ll just see how it goes.”

Harper hesitated. For the first time since the accident, Willa actually sounded hopeful. And happy. And excited about something again. 

“Okay.”

That was really the best she could give her sister, especially since she had a feeling she knew where this was going. And then after another pause, Willa launched into what Harper already knew was coming.

“And  _ maybe _ , that would give you a chance to get to know Jax a little better too. He really has made an effort - and you know he actually texts me every once and awhile? It’s just been about Mom’s car, and then he wanted to let me know that Dad’s car was being taken care of, but he didn’t have to do that, you know? I mean, you or Tommy could’ve told me that, but I thought it was really nice he wanted to keep me in the loop about it.”

There was that word again... _ nice. _ He was just so  _ nice. _ So  _ helpful _ . And he was just trying  _ so  _ hard. It was times like these Harper had a really hard time taking her sister seriously...the way she could just fall for lie after lie from her husband and then turn a blind eye to the way her brother-in-law had treated her so quickly and so efficiently just because he’d helped her with their parents’ cars...that really was some special kind of talent.

“Hmm, so, if I’m understanding you right, Will,” Harper allowed slowly. “You want me to come over tomorrow for dinner so I can get to know Jax better?”

“Um, that’s one of the reasons, sure.”

She knew she needed to tread lightly here because the last thing she wanted to do was hurt Willa’s feelings and crush this fragile hope she’d managed to find. And she knew that, at the end of the day, Willa was willing to excuse Jax's initial poor behavior mainly for the sake of her husband and for the sake of keeping the peace. There really wasn’t anything wrong with that, especially if Jax was actually sincere. And it seemed, at least from what Harper could tell, that he actually  _ was  _ sincere, if the way he’d jumped to defend Willa’s honor yesterday when they’d talked at the picnic table was any indication.

Harper just didn’t trust the guy as far she could throw him. The same went for her brother-in-law. Those Teller brothers seemed like they could charm the habit off a nun if they really wanted to. But still...the hope in Willa’s voice was just too fresh and too precious to smash.

“So why do you want me to get to know Jax better?”

There. At least she could make Willa say it, not her.

“I don’t know,” Willa threw out, and Harper lifted her eyes to the ceiling and shook her head. “I think you might actually like him, once you got to know him better...and who knows? Maybe you guys would hit it off or something? Tommy told me Jax has never really had a steady girlfriend or old lady, I think that’s what they’re called in the club, and it’s not like you’re really any better when it comes to that, but I just figured, if you’re going to stay here awhile, would it be so terrible if you…”

Willa didn’t even need to finish that sentence because Harper already knew she would say.  _ Would it be so terrible for you to find what I found here...and then maybe you would decide to stay for good? _

Because  _ that’s  _ what this was really about.

If Harper was happily paired off with Tommy’s brother, they could be this weird, incest-adjacent foursome who hung out together and took turns hosting dinners at each other’s houses, and -  _ ew _ \- babysat each other’s kids, and melded their lives together in a way that was probably just as unhealthy as it was creepy.

Yeah, she wasn’t interested in  _ any _ of that. Not with that tool.

But she wasn’t about to tell her sister that. At least not tonight, and not when Willa sounded so happy and light and breezy.

Still, it was right on the tip of her tongue to ask her sister why in the hell Willa really thought it was a good idea to try to push her and Jax together - Jax, the womanizing, grumpy asshole who’d never actually been nice to  _ her _ . Just because Jax had found it in his cold, black heart to show Willa some decency certainly didn’t mean that extended to Harper, which it absolutely didn’t. That being said, she supposed Willa also wasn’t entirely aware of the way Jax generally looked at Harper like she was dirt underneath his white sneakers, especially since he tended to be on his best behavior when Willa was around now.

Willa was nothing if not an eternal optimist, with a secret talent for deflection and compartmentalization that was just baffling. But whatever.

“Look at you, you little matchmaker,” Harper cooed into the phone, laughing even to herself at how stupid this whole thing was. “He  _ is  _ a pretty sexy biker guy. I suppose I could find a way to look past the flannel and the grungy haircut and give it a shot tomorrow night.”

Harper rolled her eyes up at the ceiling as she spoke, shaking her head into the phone, even if Willa couldn’t see it, and  _ especially  _ since Willa couldn’t see it.

“Oh, that’s all I’m saying, Harper,” Willa exclaimed happily. “Just keep an open mind about him, okay? I know that’s hard for you...because you’re you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she frowned. “I always have an open mind,  _ especially _ when it comes to guys.”

“Sure,” Willa laughed. “Keep telling yourself that, Harper. Don’t take this the wrong way - although I know you probably will - but you’ve never given yourself the chance to actually get to know  _ anybody _ . You’re always too busy plotting your next move, or getting bored and moving on, before you even have a chance to get too close, and I think that’s the way you like it.”

Harper rose up from her chair, momentarily distracted by some movement coming from outside the clubhouse, and that was as good a deflection as any. 

“Hmm,” that was the best she could do right now.

“And since you’re staying here for the time being, maybe you should give yourself the chance to actually get to know someone. I mean, like,  _ really  _ get to know someone.”

Harper huffed out a little laugh as she drew a few of the blinds down to get a better look at what was happening in the parking lot, and her eyes widened. Oh God...her Aunt Maggie was sauntering around the parking lot in a leather mini-skirt and halter-top that were both about three sizes too small. She was hanging on the neck of one of the club members she’d seen walking around the parking lot - he had kind of crazy eyes, like a fox might have, with wiry hair and an even wirier dark goatee.

“And you think that someone should be Jax?” Harper pushed on absentmindedly, too distracted by watching her aunt make a fool of herself to really care what the answer was anymore.

“Why not?” Willa laughed. “He’s not a bad guy, Harper. Just give him a shot.”

_ Maybe he’s not a bad guy,  _ Harper thought ruefully,  _ but he’s definitely not a  _ good  _ one. _

“And does Tommy know about this little matchmaking ploy of yours or is this a solo operation?”

When Maggie’s head turned to face the office, Harper immediately flipped the lights off. The last thing she wanted to do right now was draw her aunt’s attention. She’d done a pretty good job avoiding any and all contact with Maggie since the funeral, and even though a good chunk of her parents’ debt had accumulated from her dad’s unwavering and undeserved support of his little sister over the years, she’d been nowhere to be found since the funeral. What a shocker.

Harper didn’t really want to invite any kind of contact with the woman if she could help it, so she dropped the small section of blinds she’d been holding down, and crouched down a little by the window so Maggie didn’t have a chance of seeing her, but still gave her enough of a vantage point see Maggie.

“Did you hear what I said, Harper?” Willa was laughing now. “Are you still there?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry. What did you say?”

“I said Tommy may or may not be aware and he may or may not be planning to have a similar conversation with his brother at some point tonight. He’s on another night shift tonight and I think he was planning on making a stop over at the clubhouse before he came home after his shift is over.”

So, Willa really didn’t think it was odd that the chief of police worked so many night shifts? Harper could  _ maybe _ buy a couple night shifts a month, but a couple a week? And so sporadically too? Like Tommy only seemed to have a night shift whenever he felt like it. She wondered what would happen if Willa asked to see his actual schedule at the station...but Willa would never question him outright like that. Tommy was also the one constant in her life right now, and it sort of made sense that Willa would want to keep it that way for as long as humanly possible.

“Alright.”

“Everything okay over there, Harper?” Willa laughed. “You sound weird.”

“What? Oh, sorry. No, everything’s fine. Aunt Maggie’s in the parking lot right now, and I got a little distracted watching her walk around like an idiot.”

“Ugh,” Willa commiserated. “Gross. Don’t even tell me...she’s with that one she likes, right? I think his name is something weird like Rig? Teg? Oh! It’s  _ Tig _ ! That’s it.”

“Yep, that’s gotta be the guy. She’s all over him right now, Will. It’s, like, super gross.”

“Well, she never did have any shame,” Willa sighed. “Or self-respect.”

“Or any idea what size clothes to wear,” Harper blew out a heavy sigh, shaking her head as she watched Maggie disappear inside the clubhouse with Tig. 

Just as she was about to flip the lights back on in the office, she frowned when a red Audi rolled into the parking lot. Her eyes lifted to the clock on the wall, and that frown only deepened. The shop had closed to customers nearly two hours ago, so there was no  _ real  _ reason why this car needed to be on the lot right now. And then she leaned forward a little, crouching down even more when she saw Tig push through the clubhouse’s double doors to stalk through the parking lot again, this time without Maggie hanging around his neck.

Two seconds later, the clubhouse’s doors pushed open again, with Jax and his step-dad stepping out onto the pavement. Seeing them walking out, side by side, illuminated by moonlight and the few lights mounted around the parking lot...the contrast between the two of them couldn’t have been starker. Jax, with his lips wrapped around a cigarette, wearing his leather kutte, baggy jeans, black and blue flannel, and tucking some blonde hair behind an ear as he casually strolled toward the Audi, seemed to represent some kind of new order, the next generation of grungy, one-percenter bikers. And his step-dad, who, although he was wearing jeans and the same leather kutte as Jax, just looked so much older and weathered, and the bandanna around his forehead didn’t do anything but age him either.

Two men slid out of the Audi, one in a trim, grey suit, and the other just in a T-shirt and jeans, just as a tell-tale squad car pulled into the lot, and parked right next to the Audi.

“Hey, Willa?” Harper murmured into the phone. “I should probably get going. I’ve got some things to finish up here before I can head out, but I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Sure. But dinner’s okay for tomorrow night, right?”

“Yep, sounds good,” Harper told her absentmindedly as they said their goodbyes, and she swiped across her phone’s screen to end the call. 

She crouched down even farther, careful to keep as far off to the side of the window as possible, biting down on her bottom lip as Tommy, all decked out in his police officer uniform, got out of his squad car and made his way over to the small group off to the side.

Jax tipped his chin to his brother in greeting with his lips still wrapped around that cigarette, and he stepped forward to throw an arm around his brother in a bro-hug, before moving to the side where their step-dad gestured to the guy in the suit, and then the other guy in the T-shirt and jeans so Tommy could shake their hands.

The blinds were still open, so she had a pretty good hiding spot and a pretty good idea that whatever was about to happen in this parking lot probably wasn’t good.

But Harper stayed right where she was, and she watched.

* * *

Jax took a long pull from his cigarette, eyeing the men standing across from him carefully. He could put on a happy, friendly face for Tommy’s sake, and act like all of this was just fine, when the reality was that they had no business taking a meeting like this in the first place.

He wanted nothing to do with the racist pieces of shit standing in front of him, and the fact that Clay was even willing to humor them said just as much about the club’s prez as it did about the men they were meeting with.

“Well,” Zobelle gestured to Tommy with a flourish. “This is certainly a surprise. I wasn’t expecting we’d get a police escort for this particular meeting.”

“That’s just the way we do things around here,” Clay offered with a shrug, and then his mouth clamped around the cigar in his hand. 

Tommy just grinned good-naturedly, folding his hands in front of him. “And when we’ve got new visitors in town, we like to put on a united front, make sure it’s clear to all parties involved where everyone stands.”

“Ah,” Zobelle nodded with a sly grin. “I see. I can only take that to mean this little show of solidarity is really just a  _ formality _ , correct? Making sure the new kids in town know where the muscle is and where the power is?”

“Something like that,” Clay nodded, casting a glance at Tig as he spoke.

Jax’s lips twisted in amusement as he shot his brother a wary glance. No need to pull any punches, clearly. Zobelle already knew the score, as did most of the other business contacts they had where Tommy was concerned. It was more of an open secret, anyway - not like the club advertised it, but they  _ did  _ flex their muscles and flaunt their connections when the occasion required it, like right now.

Zobelle needed to know they weren’t here to mess around. And he needed to know whatever his business was here in Charming, it wouldn’t last and he’d be better off just rolling on out to the next town, with the next suckers. At least as far as Jax was concerned, this meeting was pure formality and just a waste of precious time.

As if he could read Jax’s thoughts, Zobelle cocked his head to the side, regarding him with sly eyes and an even more cunning smile.

“Mr. Teller, I can see you’re growing impatient with me,” Zobelle grinned. “Perhaps you have a more pressing engagement to attend to after our meeting here?”

“Nah,” Jax just shook head with a rueful smile. “I’d just like to cut to the chase is all. You were sniffin’ around the Niners a few weeks ago. Now, you’re here in Charming. My guess is, after we’re done here, you’ll find your way to Lodi to hit up Alvarez, and maybe even tap Darby on your way out too if you haven’t already.”

Zobelle just lifted a shoulder, and Jax didn’t miss the way Clay shot him an aggravated glance out of the corner of his eye. Not like he cared - Clay could be pissed at him for jumping in and taking over all he wanted because they shouldn’t even be standing here in the first place.

“You can’t fault me for keeping my options open, Mr. Teller,” Zobelle tilted his head to the side again, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly. “Business is business, and if I want to expand, and do it in towns where there is prevalent gang presence, I need to make sure a partnership with those gangs is in place before I can open my next location.”

“Hmm,” Jax’s lips curled up into a smirk. “ _ Gang _ presence, huh? Seems to me a gentleman like yourself would be better off lookin’ elsewhere. Ya know, settin’ up shop in towns where gangs aren’t so  _ prevalent _ , if that’s how you see our town.”

“And I don’t know about you,” Tommy chimed in, tellingly tapping a hand to the gun in his holster just because he could. “I don’t see any  _ gangs  _ around here in Charming. In fact, it seems to me like we got that  _ gang  _ presence all under control.”

“Of course,” Zobelle laughed heartily, shaking his head at his associate in the process. “My mistake.”

“I think what my boys are tryin’ to say here,” Clay cut in good-naturedly, flashing Jax a wide grin at the words  _ my boys _ just to rub it in his face, “is that the word  _ gang  _ is a kinda four-letter word around here. We do a service for this town, and part of that service includes keepin’ drugs and  _ gangs  _ and any other  _ gang- _ related trouble off our streets.”

“Right,” Zobelle nodded knowingly. “And in return for your service, your organization is afforded a wide berth from local law enforcement,” he gestured to Tommy again with a practiced flourish. “Sounds like a pretty shrewd arrangement.”

“Mutually-beneficial is what I like to call it,” Clay bared his teeth at Zobelle.

At least now, Clay seemed to be coming around to the idea that this wasn’t really headed anywhere that could be good for the club, or good for Tommy for that matter, and Jax hoped they could just wrap this up already.

Zobelle wagged a finger at Clay as he and Weston exchanged a hearty laugh that put Jax on edge. His fingers twitched a little at his sides, so he rested a hand on his hip just to keep one hand close to the Glock behind his back, should the need arise. He didn’t like the hard glint in Weston’s squinty eyes, and he  _ definitely  _ didn’t appreciate the wily, almost devious smirk that seemed to be permanently etched on Zobelle’s face. As if they were in on some secret. As if they were looking forward to revealing that secret too.

All that just made Jax’s eyes narrow suspiciously in their direction.

“Mutually-beneficial,” Zobelle repeated with another laugh. “I like that. I’m gonna use that one from now on too, if you don’t mind me borrowing it.”

Now, the three Reaper cuts standing out in the parking lot exchanged a wary glance, and Tommy cocked an eyebrow at Zobelle.

“But perhaps we should just cut through the rest of these formalities and get down to business, shall we?” Zobelle clapped his hands together with an impatient smile, and he didn’t even bother to wait for them to respond. “My associate and I are looking to open one of my cigar shops in downtown Charming. I already have a prime location scouted out and the financials all secure, but before I can do that, I need to make sure my business is going to be protected.”

Tommy shifted uneasily from side to side, glancing at Jax before he spoke, “I think we’ve already established that we don’t have those kinds of problems in Charming. Our law enforcement and Samcro put on a united front anytime we see a threat, especially if it’s drugs or violence, and we just don’t have those kinds of issues anymore within our city limits.”

“That may be true,” Zobelle lifted a shoulder a little too easily. “For law enforcement and Samcro, but that doesn’t necessarily apply to me, as a potential new resident and business owner. My shop could stand to bring in some real revenue, not to mention create jobs, and add to the overall sense of  _ prosperity  _ and  _ community  _ that’s clearly so prevalent in Charming. Now, I would like to employ the Sons of Anarchy for protection and muscle, when I need it, and I’m prepared to pay you very handsomely to do it, but in order for me to do that, I need to make sure I have all the right assurances in place.”

Jax felt his eyes narrow again at the snide way Zobelle threw out  _ prosperity  _ and  _ community _ , as if they, too, were four-letter words, at least where Charming was concerned, and certainly not applicable to the lifestyle and the general peace they enjoyed in town as a direct result of their relationship with Charming PD.

“And what assurances are you looking for?” Clay asked, folding his hands tightly across his chest, his face drawn into a tight line.

Zobelle just grinned. “It’s fairly simple. You stop selling guns to coloreds. And you redraw your dropoff zones with those  _ gangs _ \- notably the Mayans MC and the Niners, and you redirect that business to a few of the gangs  _ I’m  _ more comfortable being affiliated with, particularly the Nords and the Real IRA - don’t look so surprised, gentlemen. I’m well aware of Jimmy O’Phelan and the IRA’s presence, as well as their connections, in California, and I’m also well aware that Viktor Pultova has made an appearance around here from time to time, and  _ I  _ would prefer that your gun business was routed to  _ those  _ groups, rather than the aforementioned colored groups you tend to lower yourself to doing business with.”

Jax and Tommy’s eyes met, and then their shoulders started shaking with laughter. He glanced at Clay and Tig out of the corner of his eye, and found them reacting to all that the exact same way. This fucking guy really thought he could stand here, on Samcro property no less, and tell them who they could and couldn’t do business with? And tell them how to  _ run  _ their business?

“Look,” Clay chuckled, shaking his finger at Zobelle like he just couldn’t quite believe they were really having this conversation right now. “I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say you’ve probably already talked to Darby, right?”

Zobelle just lifted a shoulder, but the answer was clear. 

“Right,” Clay nodded smugly. “So, I don’t know what Darby told you to make you think you can roll up here on Samcro property and pull this shit. And I don’t know what your angle here is - and it’s definitely not because you want muscle for some fuckin’ cigar shop. This is bigger than that, and I think every single one of us standing here knows it. Now, that bein’ said, let me be real clear here: no one, and I mean fucking  _ no one _ , tells us what we can and can’t do, and  _ especially  _ not just for a fuckin’ payday.”

Jax found himself nodding in solidarity, even if all that had just come from Clay. He was right, and it was about time to get this Nazi prick off their property.

Zobelle, however, just tilted his head to the side, his eyes traveling up and down the length of Samcro’s president, sizing him up as if he were preparing for battle. “Well, I don’t think anyone needs to get all upset over nothing, am I right, gentlemen? All I’m asking for is a simple redirection of goods and services to a clientele that I find more, shall we say... _ palatable _ ? I’m more than prepared to pay you for your trouble and make it worth your time and effort, and I’d like to think you’re all smart enough to know a good proposition when you hear one.”

Jax’s jaw tightened, and his fingers twitched at his side again as the hand at his hip brushed the Glock at his back. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means, Mr. Teller,” Zobelle flashed him a toothy grin. “That I don’t really see what the difference here is - whether you sell guns to coloreds or to whites, you’re still making the same amount of money. And by making that adjustment, or recalibration, if you will, in the way you do your business, you also stand to make a hell of a lot more money in the process by acting as my protection and my muscle. And, of course,” he gestured to Tommy knowingly, “you’d still have your insurance policy here to make sure all is right with the world.”

Jax felt his eyebrows lift warily as his gaze found his brother, who just shook his head at him.

“Listen,” Clay took a menacing step forward, his eyes hard and his mouth drawn into a thin line. “We’re not interested in being dictated to, and we’re not gonna be fuckin’ bullied on our own property just because you think you’re dangling some cash over our heads. That’s not enough of a carrot for us to bite, and you gotta know that. I’m not sure what this whole little production was about tonight, but I think we’re just about done here. So, why don’t you just get back in your little German clown car and get the hell outta our town because the next time you show up here and try to piss all over my shoes, Adolf, you’re not gonna like what happens next.”

Zobelle didn’t even flinch, Instead, he cocked his head to the side again, making eye contact with his associate for just a second before flicking his eyes back to Clay.

“I was hoping you would say something like that,” Zobelle’s lips lifted smugly as he spoke. “I’ve always enjoyed a good fight, and I’m prepared to use my resources to bring you to heel, should the need be.”

Jax’s eyebrows shot into his forehead. “Bring us to  _ heel _ ? I don’t think you really know who you’re talking to here, bro.”

“I could argue the same for you, Mr. Teller.”

“Uh huh,” Jax narrowed his eyes at him. “Sure. I don’t give a shit what resources you think you have. You can’t show up here and tell us what to do. That’s not how this works.”

“Ah,” Zobelle nodded easily, lifting his hands in defense. “I understand there’s been some confusion here. Just because  _ you  _ believe you and your club are playing by a certain set of rules, Mr. Teller, doesn’t mean that  _ I  _ have to play by those rules. Now, since there’s obviously been some confusion, let me just make myself clear: you will stop selling guns to coloreds. If you don’t, I will use my connections with Darby and the Nords to filter in the exact thing you’ve been working so hard to keep out of this town. I’m not afraid to stand my ground, Mr. Teller, and I can see that you’re not either. But you should know that I always win, and I always get what I want - and what I want, is for you to stop selling guns to coloreds. I think my offer has been generous and fair, not to mention  _ mutually-beneficial  _ for both sides.”

“So you think you can fucking strong-arm us into doing what you want?” Clay shot back, not even giving Jax a chance to react or respond to all the bullshit Zobelle just threw his way. 

“Yes, I do,” Zobelle retorted, and then he nodded to his associate, who pulled his own Glock from behind his back and pointed it right at Tommy’s head.

And then, everything seemed to happen all at once. Tommy’s hands shot up in the air, and above the ringing in Jax’s ears, he could hear Tommy saying, “Whoa, whoa, everyone just calm the hell down here.”

Clay moved forward aggressively - too aggressively for Zobelle’s liking - and when Zobelle and Weston made eye contact one more time, Jax didn’t hesitate. He lifted the Glock out from behind his back, cocked it at Weston and fired a shot right through his head. Then, Jax shifted on his heel, and fired a second shot through Zobelle’s temple.

The two bodies fell to the ground in tandem, and Jax lowered his gun, with its smoke still billowing out from the short barrel. His eyes lifted to Tommy, and the brothers nodded to each other. There’d been no other choice. No other way.

It was either them or Tommy.

And Jax would always choose Tommy.

* * *

Harper froze at the window, her eyes wide, her mouth dropping open in shock and horror, and she sank down to the floor. Her hand flew to her mouth, and she bit back a scream, her heart thundering in her chest.

Holy effing shit.

Holy  _ mother  _ effing  _ shit _ .

And before she had a chance to do much else, Juice came barreling through the office door from the garage, huffing and puffing, all red in the face, and then he skidded to a stop the moment their eyes locked. He paused just long enough to take stock of her position on the floor, and the way her hand was cemented over the top of her mouth, and then he was on her.

Juice hauled her up, yanking her across the floor, and threw her down onto the chair at the desk.

“Don’t fuckin’ move,” he hissed, pointing a finger in her face. 

His dark eyes flew around the room in a frenzy, scanning the room and then digging through the drawers in the desk until he unearthed a roll of silver duct tape. With his hands on her wrists in a vise grip, he tore off a long piece of duct tape with his teeth, wrapped it around her wrist to secure it to the arm of the chair and then made quick work of securing her other wrist with another piece of tape. 

“Wait a minute, wait a minute -” Harper pushed out, but she didn’t get a chance to plead her case because Juice put a piece over her mouth before she could even try.

Then he was gone in a flash, and she could hear his footsteps pounding out into the pavement, and some low, murmured voices out in the parking lot before those pounding footsteps hammered back up the steps. Jax and Tommy appeared in the doorway of the office just seconds later, both of them skidding to a stop when they saw her sitting in the desk chair, with her wrists and mouth bound. 

Her eyes widened when she saw them, and she struggled in vain against her restraints. There was no use in fighting it. She knew that, try as she might to break free from the tape binding her wrists. 

Tommy covered his face with both hands, sinking down into a crouch as Jax lunged forward, his face twisted with the kind of lethal menace she’d never seen on a human being before. He closed the distance between them with three long strides, and then ripped the tape off her mouth.

But he didn’t give her a chance to speak, choosing instead to jab a ringed finger at her as he dipped lower, glaring at her right in the eye.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen, princess,” Jax growled, his lips curling back into a tight snarl. “You’re gonna tell me exactly what you saw, and you’re not gonna fucking leave anything out, and you’re not gonna fucking  _ lie _ to me either.”

Harper sucked in a harsh breath, struggling against the restraints on her wrists out of pure reflex. Out of all the crazy situations she’d gotten herself into over the years, this was a first. Tied up to a chair with duct tape was a first. Witness to a double murder was  _ definitely  _ a first. 

And now, with the ugly and deadly malice glaring back at her, she knew she had no other choice but to tell the truth. Whatever line she might try to give him, whatever excuse she might try to spin, he’d never accept it as true - because it  _ wouldn’t  _ be true. Because she’d seen exactly what he thought she did, and for the first time in her life, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to talk her way out of this.

“Well?” Jax prompted her, his eyebrows lifting impatiently. He leaned in even further as both his hands closed over her wrists, and squeezed with just enough pressure to let her know nobody in this office was playing around right now. “You’ve got three seconds, princess. And you’re not gonna like what happens when those three seconds are up.”

Harper’s eyes widened again, and she looked to Tommy in a panic, who by now had straightened up and was hovering off to the side as he scrubbed a hand over his face. It was a futile effort. Tommy wasn’t going to be on anyone’s side but his brother’s, and his own too. Jax was his blood, and Harper wasn’t. It was as simple as that.

And then that old familiar self-preservation kicked in, and even though her heart stuttered and kicked in her chest, she managed to even out enough to push through what she needed to do, whatever the consequences may be. 

“I saw you,” Harper whispered. She winced at the way Jax’s entire face and body seemed to still at those words. But she swallowed hard, and gave him what he wanted, “I saw you, Jax.”

“You saw me  _ what _ ?”

This time, Harper sucked in a shakier breath, leaning as far away from him as her chair and her restraints allowed. He didn’t hesitate, dipping his shoulders down even deeper with both hands locked around her wrists.

“I need to hear you say it,” he murmured lowly, his eyes never leaving hers.

Harper swallowed hard as tears burned in her eyes. God, if she wasn’t careful she might literally piss herself, right here, in this office, and in this chair where she sat in every day. Her eyes lifted over the top of Jax’s head one more time to find Tommy, who was just staring back at her with his arms folded tightly into his chest and a grim line written across his face.

Then she inhaled sharply one more time, and looked him in the eye.

“I saw that guy in the T-shirt pull a gun on Tommy,” Harper whispered, hating the way her voice shook on each syllable. “And then I saw you shoot the guy in the T-shirt, and then the one in the suit too.”

Jax’s eyes narrowed at her as he nodded tightly. “And what the  _ fuck  _ were you doin’ in here with the lights off?”

She felt herself push out yet another shaky breath, but she just couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t control the visceral, primal reaction in her - every single cell in her body was telling her to run, but she couldn’t because her effing wrists were taped to the chair.

“I was staying late while Juice worked on the starter in my dad’s car and -”

“I didn’t ask you why you were here late,” Jax growled, his lips curling back into a snarl again. “I asked you what the  _ fuck  _ you were doin’ in here with the lights off.”

“Okay, okay,” Harper shot back hotly, and didn’t flinch when Jax’s eyes narrowed dangerously at her. “Would you just give me a second? I’m  _ trying  _ to -”

Jax dipped even lower so that their eyes were completely level with each other, and he pinned her right to the chair with his shards of blue ice. “I’d be real careful here if I were you, princess. You and I both know what you just saw, and I’d like to think you’re smart enough to know that runnin’ your mouth at me right now isn’t gonna do you any favors.”

“I wasn’t running my mouth,” Harper protested, glaring right back at him. At this point, what difference did it make anyway? She saw what she saw, and now, they knew what she knew. There was nothing more she could do about it, other than to tell the truth on a hope and a prayer. “I was  _ trying  _ to say that I was on the phone with Willa before -”

“You were on the fucking phone with my  _ wife  _ when you saw that shit back there?” Tommy was on her now, his blue eyes wide and filled with a scary combination of rage and terror.

Harper huffed at him impatiently, and chose to ignore the way Jax’s eyebrows lifted at her in surprise. “I didn’t say that, you jerk. I got off the phone with her when I saw you pull into the parking lot. Don’t worry, Chief Teller, she thinks you’re happily working your night shift like the good little wife she is.”

That gave Tommy pause, and for a moment, she wasn’t so sure if he was going to slap her or strangle her. Instead, he took a tiny step back to put some more space in between them.

“Like I was saying,” Harper grumbled. “I was on the phone with Willa. She was trying to talk me into going to your place for dinner tomorrow night,” she gestured with her head toward Tommy, who just frowned back at her, “and then I saw my Aunt Maggie in the parking lot with Tig and I turned the light off in the office because I didn’t want her to know I was here.”

When the brothers just stared back at her blankly, Harper rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

“I didn’t want to talk to her, and I’ve been trying to keep my distance since the funeral - not like it matters since she hasn’t offered to do jackshit, but you know what I mean. And  _ that’s  _ why I turned the lights off. I was just about to turn the lights back on when those guys pulled up in the Audi.”

Jax’s eyes narrowed dangerously again. “And then you kept the lights off so we wouldn’t know you were there? So you could snoop around on shit that has nothin’ to do with you?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Harper shot back. “And I wasn’t trying to  _ snoop _ , at least not really. It just sort of...happened. I didn’t mean for it to happen. It just did.”

Jax blew out a heavy breath and lifted his eyes to the ceiling. “Jesus fucking Christ.”

He straightened up now, looking helplessly to his little brother. Tommy just shook his head incredulously, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat.

“I’m not gonna tell anyone,” she offered quietly. “Who would I tell anyway? The effing chief of police is standing right here.”

Besides, telling someone,  _ anyone,  _ what she’d just seen out in that parking lot would easily be the stupidest thing she’d ever done in her life. Sure, she’d taken plenty of risks before, but never the kind of risk that might mean she’d wind up with a bullet in her head...which was sorta how this was looking like it might shake out right now.

But she put that aside. Spending any of these priceless moments fixating on what might happen to her  _ after  _ she left this office, if they’d even decide to let her leave it, was not going to help her.

Jax and Tommy exchanged a look, and then Jax exhaled heavily, scrubbing both hands over his face.

“I can’t fucking believe this,” he muttered under his breath. “I can’t  _ fucking  _ believe this shit right now.”

“Right,” Harper shot back sharply. “How do you think I feel?”

When both brothers turned to her with eyebrows raised - Tommy more in disbelief, and Jax more in warning - she just shrugged against the chair.

“The  _ one  _ time in my life where I actually take responsibility for something and actually care about something other than myself, and what happens? I see this effing jerk-off,” she gestured toward Jax with her head, completely dismissing the way his eyes narrowed at her, “shoot two guys in the fucking head. So I’m sorry if I’m a little pissed about all this too, okay?”

And that was it. Maybe this was what she deserved after all those years of skating by scot-free and narrowly escaping any real consequences through luck, finesse, and carefully-formulated excuses. Here it was, finally - that elusive comeuppance she’d managed to evade right up until now. And maybe she’d had it coming anyway.

It didn’t help that the two brothers just stared back at her like she’d just sprouted a second head. Finally, Jax barked out a bitter laugh, shaking his head with both hands perched on his hips. 

“What the fuck do we do now, bro?” Jax looked to his brother with a little helplessness in his eyes that set Harper on edge.

“Well,” Tommy lifted a shoulder, his blue eyes drifting back over to her for now. “She said she’s not gonna tell anyone, and I don’t know...she kinda has a point, right? Who’s she really gonna tell?  _ Why  _ would she tell?”

“Trust me,” Harper huffed from her chair. “The last thing I’d ever wanna do is burst Willa’s bubble when it comes to you, Tommy. She’s gonna figure it out eventually, but it’s not gonna be from me, and it’s definitely not gonna be because I saw your brother pop two guys in the parking lot. I’m not an idiot, okay? I know what those one-percenter patches mean, and I know better than to do anything that might get  _ me  _ popped in the parking lot too.”

Tommy studied her carefully, regarding her with a little more softness in his eyes than had been there before, almost like he was actually starting to believe her. He looked to Jax now, but Jax’s hard, scrutinizing eyes still hadn’t left her. He was cataloging everything he could about her, right down to her hair and her wedge sandals, and filing it all away in case he needed to use any of that information later.

Finally, Jax squeezed his eyes shut, and then grabbed the knife at his hip. Her entire body froze as he unsheathed the knife and moved toward her. He must’ve seen the sheer terror on her face because a moment later, his eyes widened a little, and he held his free hand out in defense as he took another careful step toward.

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” he murmured to her, his eyes never leaving hers. His face twisted with something she couldn’t quite place - remorse maybe? Regret? A little bit of fear? Whatever it was, she wasn’t so sure she liked it.

“You sure about that?” Harper whispered back.

His mouth tightened into a firm line as he bent down and sliced through the tape on her wrists. With some care that surprised her, he peeled away the rest of the tape and then gripped one of her wrists to pull her up to her feet.

Jax swallowed tightly, casting a quick glance at Tommy from over his shoulder before he blew out another heavy sigh. “I need you to crash at the clubhouse tonight, just so I can keep Clay in line about everything. Nobody’s taking you prisoner and nobody’s gonna cuff you to a bed or some shit like that. I just...that buys me a little time to make sure Clay and Tig understand that you’re not gonna rat on us and that I’ve got you under control, okay? That’s all this is.”

_That_ didn’t sound very good. And it was clear that _all this_ was a carefully-orchestrated attempt at keeping her close to make sure she didn’t turn around and run.

And it really didn’t help that Jax had shifted from looking ready to slit her throat with that knife to speaking to her so softly and so gently all in the span of about 10 seconds in a way that sent her reeling.

But what other choice did she really have?

It was that last thought that kept her feet moving in front of her as she grabbed her purse and her phone, and let Jax usher her out of the office, with his hand firmly planted on the small of her back to make sure she only went where he wanted her to go, and with Tommy right on their heels. He led her through the parking lot, careful to steer her away from where two guys in leather Reaper kuttes were scrubbing away at the blood spatter on the pavement, with those two bodies nowhere in sight.

Jax shifted gears to face his step-dad, who was standing just outside the clubhouse’s main entrance with his hands shoved deep in his front pockets, and his lips wrapped around a cigar. He pulled the cigar away from his mouth, and pointed it at Harper.

“ _ This _ is the complication Juice was talkin’ about?”

Jax stiffened next to her, and the hand on her back curled into a fist. “There’s no problem here, Clay. I got this all straightened out.”

Clay blew out a steady stream of smoke, aiming it right at Harper’s face as he tipped his chin to her, focusing all his attention on the anomaly,  _ her,  _ in the parking lot.

“You see what I think you saw?”

Harper swallowed hard, her eyes drifting up to find Jax, who just nodded to her tightly, signalling that she needed to answer, and that she needed to answer honestly.

But, when she tried to speak, her voice died out on her completely. She’d never seen Tommy and Jax’s step-dad up close before, and had never actually formally met him, despite the few shifts they’d shared at the shop, but now, with this close proximity, and the hard, slightly sinister glint in his eye, Harper’s knees were quaking underneath her short, flowy dress.

Jax must’ve felt the way she trembled underneath his step-dad’s stare, and he shifted a little bit closer to her so that their hips brushed. “It’s fine, Clay. I got this. She’s not -”

“Nah,” Clay shook his head tightly, his grey eyes hardening into tiny slits. “I wanna hear this from her right now.”

The fist at her back pressed into her ever so slightly, putting just enough pressure there to prompt her into action.

“I saw what you think I saw,” Harper answered evenly and quietly, careful to keep eye contact with him long enough to make sure he could at least see that she understood the seriousness of her current predicament.

“Clay,” Jax told him firmly, taking a step forward to put himself slightly in between them. “I got this under control.”

Clay’s eyebrows lifted in challenge as he wrapped his lips around his cigar again. “You’d better, son. You’d fucking  _ better _ .”

Jax pushed out a rough breath, and sent Tommy a tight nod before he applied some more pressure on her back to get her moving toward the clubhouse again, leaving Tommy and Clay behind.

As they pushed through the clubhouse’s double doors, Jax leaned to murmur in her ear, “I’m gonna put my arm around your shoulders, and I want you to put your arm on my waist, a’ight? Let everyone in here think whatever they’re gonna think, but that’s the easiest way to get you inside without anyone askin’ any stupid questions.”

She nodded numbly, her movements feeling stiff and stilted as her arm slid around Jax’s waist. He draped an arm around her shoulder, tucking her in closer underneath his arm, and she felt herself naturally react, desperate to put some more space between them but he held firm, curling his arm around her neck to lean her into him.

“Just keep your eyes on the floor,” Jax murmured in her ear again. “It’s gonna be fine.”

She did as she was told, and they breezed through the clubhouse’s main floor. Harper didn’t look up, choosing instead to play the part of the shy girl Jax was bringing back to his dorm, even though she was pretty sure most of the people inside would at least have an idea of who she was. She tried not to pay too much attention to the man who had his arm slung around her shoulders, who she’d also just seen shoot two men about ten minutes ago, and that her arm was wrapped around his waist, naturally slipping underneath his kutte in a show of intimacy that felt strange and oddly comforting at the same time.

“Harper?” a familiar voice called out to them above the loud music and the noise inside the clubhouse.

Jax’s steps stalled, shifting his shoulders and then Harper had no choice but to look up, finding Maggie staring back at her with some amusement, if not a tiny bit of confusion too.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath.

“Hi, Aunt Maggie,” Harper smiled back tightly, leaning into Jax a little bit more on instinct when Maggie’s eyes drifted between the two of them with her eyebrows lifted suggestively. “We were just…”

“Oh, I can see that,” Maggie grinned, reaching out to swat Harper playfully on the shoulder. “Looks like there’s another Sullivan sister around here that can’t resist a Teller brother, huh?”

Harper played the part, letting a sly grin slip up the side of her face as she glanced up at Jax long enough for Maggie to get the hint. “Looks like it. Just couldn’t help myself, I guess.”

With another waggle of her eyebrows, Maggie just lifted a shoulder, sauntering away as she called over her shoulder, “Have fun, missy. I’ve heard some stories about that one - you make sure to come find me tomorrow morning to let me know if they’re true or not.”

Harper waved a little over shoulder as Jax led her away, and leaned into her ear, “You really are a little fuckin’ hustler, aren’t you?”

“Shut up,” she muttered back to him under her breath, but she kept the sly smile fixed on her face just for the sake of the people here in this clubhouse right now, watching them walk away.

When they got to the hallway, Jax dropped the act, lifting his arm from her shoulders, but slipped his hand down to her back again so he could steer her to one of the doors in the hallway. He unlocked it, and then gestured for her to go inside. It only took a few tentative steps inside the room to realize where she really was, that this was obviously  _ his  _ room, and she winced from the impact.

The bed was a tangled mess of sheets and blankets. Empty beer were bottles scattered everywhere and on just about every surface, not to mention about four ashtrays that she could count on first glance, that were filled to the brim with cigarette buds. And,  _ and  _ it reeked of sweat, stale beer, smoke, and sex.

Gross.

Just...super gross.

And when she turned back to face Jax, she found him staring at her with an unfathomable expression on his face. His handsome features were all hard angles, curved with dark lines and even darker eyes. Then, he pushed out one long, rough sigh and scrubbed his face with both hands.

She knew the feeling.

Because what the  _ eff _ were they supposed to do now?   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Sunday! Thoughts on this chapter? The next one will see Jax wrestling with how to handle his witness ;)


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays and happy Sunday! I hope you all had a merry Christmas! The next chapter will focus on their little road trip to Reno ;)
> 
> Thoughts on this chapter? Thank you all again for reading!

Well, this was a first for him.

Of all the women he’d had in his dorm over the years, Jax could honestly say this was the first time one legitimately looked terrified of his bed. Right now, Harper was staring at it, with its tangled sheets and mussed blankets, like if she got too close, it just might jump up and bite her. Or, probably more accurately, like she just might catch some kind of disease.

Jax rolled his eyes at her and huffed out a laugh. At least this had cut the fraught tension between them just now.

Because right now, he just didn’t know what his options were, if he really had any. He had no intention of actually hurting her, or even scaring her beyond how far he’d already gone in the office, but he just couldn’t fathom what in the fuck was going to happen once he had to let her out of this room. Because at some point, he’d have to let her out of this room. And at some point, they would have to face the reality of what had just happened, and what she had just seen him do.

But for now, this bought him a little bit of time.

“So,” Harper called out softly, shifting on her heel as her eyes dropped down to his bed again. “This is the room where it happens, huh?”

Despite his better judgment, he barked out a laugh, and then rubbed a hand over his mouth to hide the way she’d just made him laugh, the way she’d just lightened a pretty damn dark mood.

“Depends on your definition of  _ it _ , princess,” Jax shot back. Even now, his lips were still quirking up in amusement.

“Well,” she sniffed a little bitchily, “if I have to sleep in this room tonight, I am  _ not  _ sleeping in that bed.”

“If you’re worried about what’s clean and what isn’t, I can’t guarantee the floor’s any better than the sheets.”

Harper’s nose crinkled up as her eyes dropped to the carpet, and she muttered, “Ew. Ew.  _ Ew _ .”

Now, she was gingerly stepping around the carpet like it was filled with unmarked land mines or something, frantically glancing around the room to find one surface that was safe to touch. And because, for some reason, he was enjoying her little show of general distaste and disgust for his personal space, he chose to stand there and do nothing.

“If this is what your room  _ here  _ is like,” she mumbled under her breath. “I can only imagine what your effing house looks like.”

He just lifted a shoulder. “I’m never really there, so I guess I couldn’t really tell you.”

“That’s weird,” she frowned back. “Like  _ really  _ weird. Why would you own a house if you never spend any - you know what? I don’t care. I really don’t care.”

All he could do was chuckle and shove his hands in his front pockets. He watched her tiptoe around his room, leaned his back against the door, and took stock of what was happening right now. This girl somehow had the ability to compartmentalize like some kind of robot, or maybe she was just a really good actress - either way, the effort and the skill it had to take to walk around his room right now, turning her nose up at his mess like  _ that  _ was the worst thing that had happened to her today...it was pretty damn impressive.

“So is this the part where you tell me that Saudi prince you dated for, like,  _ half a regime change _ , lived in some kinda palace with maids and servants and shit? I bet  _ he  _ didn’t live in squalor, huh?”

Harper’s blue eyes, or maybe they were green right now, either way - her eyes shot up from the floor to slice right into him. “I never said you lived in squalor. You live in  _ filth _ .”

“Sure,” he laughed. “Big difference.”

“Right. And he didn’t live in _a_ palace, he lived in an _apartment_ in the palace.”

“Ah,” he grinned back at her, holding his hands up in defense. “My mistake. Shoulda known, princess.”

Her eyes narrowed at him ever so slightly, and then, with a heavy sigh, she dug through her purse before unearthing her phone and handing it over to him. And although his forehead dipped down into a frown, he slipped it from her fingertips, and glanced down at it.

“The last time I got taken hostage, they took my phone,” she just shrugged. “I figured I’d save you the trouble.”

And despite the way his chest twisted and clenched, he slipped it into his pocket. Everything about her right now - the cool, calm demeanor, her snobby perusal of his room, the way she’d just willingly handed over her phone - it all screamed what he already knew. She wasn’t going to rat. She wasn’t going to run. She wasn’t going to do anything stupid. Because she didn’t want to end up with a bullet in her head too.

Gemma had been right about her. Harper wasn’t the kind of person who’d stir up trouble just to stir up trouble. She clearly had a little bit of knack for getting  _ into  _ trouble, but he was kinda starting to come around to the idea that she stumbled into it, rather than went looking for it. And she was clearly smart enough, and resourceful enough, to have made it this far.

Before he could stop himself, he pushed off the door, with her phone still in his pocket, and closed the space between him and his closet in a few long strides. He rummaged through it for a few moments, pushing aside some clothes and other shit he’d even forgotten was there, until he found what he was looking for. He carried it over to the end of his bed, sidestepping around her in the process, and flung the blanket out to lay it on the floor. Then he gestured with a flourish for her to take a seat.

“Your accommodations for the evening, milady,” he grinned.

Harper eyed the blanket carefully, as if trying to decide just how clean  _ that  _ was, seeing as how it had been in his closet for some indeterminate amount of time, and, as her lips curled in amusement, she kicked off her heels and sank down onto the blanket, situating herself so that her back was against the edge of his bed and her legs were kicked out toward his door. He took that as his signal to resume his position, and plopped himself down on the floor across from her with his back against the door.

“So you’re guarding the door now too?” she tilted her head to the side a little, appraising him from top to bottom.

“Don’t worry,” he told her as he pushed his legs up and rested his elbows on his knees. “I’m not gonna let anyone in.”

“Or out, apparently,” Harper shot back quickly, and with some fire that surprised him, given her current situation.

He didn’t really want to respond to that, so he chose to deflect instead, tipping his chin to her as he spoke, “So you gonna enlighten me about the last time you were taken hostage or do I need to give you a minute to come up with a story?”

Her eyes lifted from the floor to meet him head on. “What difference does it make? You’re not gonna believe me anyway.”

That familiar clenching twisted in his chest, and a tight line ticked down his jaw. He gripped his hands folded in front of him at his knees, desperate for something to cling to, anything that would give him some direction here. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him, but he’d  _ expected  _ fear. What he hadn’t expected was the biting humor, the bitter anger, and the calm approach to a predicament she could no longer control.

“Probably not,” he called out to her hoarsely and pushed out a heavy sigh. “But just to be clear, I  _ did  _ believe you back there in the office. About all of it. I believed you.”

“Well,” she shrugged. “Seeing as how I’ve never lied to you before, now would be a pretty stupid time to start.”

Jax’s eyebrows lifted in amusement, but he chose just to focus on the last part of what she’d just said, rather than the first. “I agree. Now really would be a pretty stupid time to lie to me.”

She glanced down at her hands, twisting her fingers around and picking at a nail. “So who were those guys? You know, the ones I saw you shoot in the head.”

Despite everything, his mouth quirked up at the corners again. She really  _ wasn’t  _ afraid of him. Wasn’t afraid to ask questions she really had no business asking and had no real rights to the answers. But, seeing as how she already knew the worst part, the most damning part, she might as well know the rest of it.

“Their names were Ethan Zobelle and AJ Weston,” he told her, smirking a little when her head shot up, like she was surprised he’d actually answered her question. “We were meeting with them about some business, and obviously, that business went a little awry.”

“Obviously,” her head tilted sarcastically. “But, I guess if someone was holding a gun to Willa’s head, and I had the opportunity, I might’ve done the same thing.”

Jax’s head dipped down in a tight nod, his eyes scrutinizing her carefully, taking meticulous stock of this girl sitting across from him. Maybe it was her unflappability that was throwing him off the most. That reassured him, yet set him on edge at the same time. Somebody like this, so calm, so poised under pressure, could also be pretty unpredictable if he wasn’t on his guard.

“So is Tommy a  _ completely  _ dirty cop, or does he actually do some real police work here and there?”

And although Jax bristled at the phrase,  _ dirty cop _ , he also had a pretty good idea what she was doing right now. She wasn’t fishing for information that she could turn around and feed to the Feds - she already had plenty of intel from what she’d just witnessed in the parking lot. This was either genuine curiosity or complete resignation that it was all over for her already. And if it was all over for her already, what difference did it make what she knew and what she didn’t if they were just going to take her out back and shoot her, right?

His stomach turned just at the thought, and he swallowed it back so he could answer her.

“While I don’t appreciate your turn of phrase,” he grinned at her easily. “I like to think of him as...like Commissioner Gordon, you know?”

Her pretty eyes narrowed suspiciously. “And what would make you, what?  _ Batman _ ? Please.”

“What?” he laughed. “We keep the bad guys out in a way the law can’t. What’s so wrong with that?”

Harper’s head tilted to the side as she regarded him with amusement. “I don’t recall Batman ever shooting anyone in the head.”

And when he couldn’t bring himself to respond to  _ that,  _ her lips lifted again, like she knew just how deeply she’d just hit below the surface of Tommy’s little web of lies he’d weaved over the years, not to mention the well-placed dig that the brothers’ alliance wasn’t exactly the stuff out of a comic book. 

Then she wagged a finger at him with a knowing grin.

“You wanna know what I think?” her eyebrows quirked up wryly, but she didn’t give him a chance to respond. “Have you ever seen  _ The Departed _ ?”

This time, she waited long enough to see his eyes narrow and his head dip down in confirmation.

“Great movie,” Harper’s lips twisted into a smug grin. “I was just on the edge of my seat the whole time...and then the  _ ending _ ! When Marky Mark shows up in Matt Damon’s apartment, after he gets all those tapes or whatever from Matt and Leo’s sorta girlfriend that they share, and he  _ knows  _ Matt Damon is a dirty cop and a rat and the reason all these people are dead is because of him? And then, bam! Matt Damon gets it right between the eyes because that’s exactly what he deserves! Oh, that was just, like, the  _ perfect  _ ending, you know?”

“Uh huh,” his eyes narrowed even more at her now. “What’s your point, princess?”

“My point,” she pointed at him again, “is that I think Tommy is the Matt Damon in this scenario, isn’t he?”

He opted not to answer her, choosing instead to reach inside his kutte for a much-needed cigarette. When he had his lips wrapped around one and lit up, he tossed his pack over to her and followed that up with his lighter. While she worked on getting her own cigarette lit, he reached up to grab a stray ashtray that was sitting on his desk and set it in between them. Then he settled himself, with his legs folded in a pretzel, about a foot away from the ashtray so that it was within arms’ reach for him but still kept some careful distance between him and the girl sitting by his bed.

She scooted forward, tucking her legs underneath her and gingerly arranging the skirt of her dress around her knees to keep him getting a peek up her skirt, as if he was looking. When she leaned in to flick some ash from her cigarette into the ashtray between them, her eyes lifted back up to him.

“Hey, Jax?”

“Yeah, princess?”

Harper sucked in a quick breath, wrapping her lips around her cigarette again before glancing up at him again. “What’s gonna happen now?” and then, with a grin, she pointed a finger at him, “and don’t  _ lie  _ to me either. You can give it to me straight. I’m pretty sure I can handle it.”

He huffed out a laugh, despite himself, and despite the situation he found himself in, and he decided the only thing he could do right now was just be honest with her: “I don’t know.”

Some resignation flooded her eyes, and she nodded tightly. His heart just about dropped into his stomach at the sight, and it was all he could do to keep from jumping up to his feet and sprinting to the bathroom so he could heave in the toilet. This wasn’t who he was. This wasn’t what the  _ club  _ was.

He’d acted swiftly, probably  _ too  _ swiftly if he was being really honest with himself, but he’d done it to protect Tommy. Seeing a gun pointed at his little brother’s head was something he hoped he’d never see again, and he didn’t regret the choice he’d made. If he had to do it over again, he’d still make the same choice. And it wasn’t like Zobelle and Weston were innocents in this situation either. They’d just been asking for it anyway, with the way they’d paraded around from town to town, trying to draw out the local organizations and stir up trouble under the guise of a new business venture, which probably didn’t even really exist.

They’d reaped what they’d sowed, and they’d gotten what they’d deserved.

The underlying factor here, though, was Harper.  _ She  _ really was the innocent party here, at least in this situation, and her only real crime, at least this time, was just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Just like Donna.

Jax swallowed hard at that thought. His fingertips trembled a little around his cigarette as he took another deep pull from it, inhaling some nicotine to calm his nerves. 

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time shouldn’t be a death sentence. And as his eyes flicked back to Harper, some new resolve wrapped itself around him and squeezed him tight. He wasn’t going to be the reason the club had more innocent blood on its hands. That wasn’t what they did. That wasn’t who they were. They didn’t resort to killing innocent women just because they couldn’t come up with a better, different solution.

If they did this, if  _ he  _ allowed them to do to Harper what they’d done to Donna, then he was no better than them. Harper’s blood would be on his hands - and he already had enough blood on his hands to last a lifetime.

And he really didn’t want to see Harper led outside to some van in the parking lot and driven out to some secluded spot in the desert, with an empty hole waiting for her, all because of him. All because of a split-second decision  _ he’d  _ made, and one that had absolutely nothing to do with her.

Even if she was annoying as hell. Even if she was too damn smart for her own good. Even if she was a psycho grifter who skated by in life getting men to pay for things for her and up until now, had lied to him at every turn just because it seemed like it was fun for her.

He just couldn’t let it happen. Whatever it took, whatever reassurances Clay needed from him, he’d do it in a heartbeat if it kept her out of that van and away from that empty hole. This wasn’t going to be on his conscience for the rest of his life.  _ He _ wasn’t going to be the reason another innocent woman got one of the club’s bullets in the head.

“I have to open the shop tomorrow morning,” Harper’s quiet voice called out to him as she tapped some more ash into the tray in between them. “Gemma should probably know I’m not coming.”

“Nah,” he told her with a small smile. “You’ll be there. I’ll run you back to your place in the morning so you can change and do whatever you gotta do, and then I’ll bring you back here for your shift. I’m gonna have to stay close, but that’s only so I can tell Clay you didn’t do anything we need to be worried about.”

It took her a moment, but after one long moment of staring back at him, the cracks in her veneer started to break through the surface. Her pretty face twisted angrily, and she swallowed hard, tensing up and pointing a finger at him.

“I thought I told you not to  _ lie  _ to me. It’s not fair to say that shit to me when we both know it’s not gonna happen.”

He glanced down at his hands then because he just couldn’t look her in the eye. “That’s what I  _ want  _ to happen. And it’s not a lie.”

“Well, I asked you what was actually gonna happen, not what you wanted to happen,” her eyes squinted at him dangerously, and he found himself sucking in a harsh breath on reflex. “So how long are you gonna make me sit in here like this? How much longer is it gonna take for your buddies out there to figure out the best place to drop my body, huh? I’m sure we’re just waiting for someone to load up the other two bodies you already took out tonight, and then we’ll be on our way, right?”

“That’s not gonna happen.”

She huffed out a bitter laugh. “I don’t believe you.”

Jax pushed out a rough breath, and after mashing his cigarette in the ashtray, he scrubbed both hands over his face, feeling like he just might throw up all over the carpet right now. When he finally let himself look her in the eye, he just couldn’t handle what he saw looking back at him. It was written all over her face, and he figured he had it coming - disgust, anger, resentment, resignation...that last one made his stomach lurch and churn. 

And then, before he could stop himself, he opened his mouth and started speaking.

“I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, Harper.”

She just barked out yet another bitter laugh, and he probably deserved that too. She was shaking her head at him now, like he was an idiot, like he was nothing but a liar, and now, some fury crept in there too, like she was pissed at  _ him  _ for treating  _ her  _ like she was stupid. She wasn’t stupid, and they both knew it.

Maybe he needed to start treating her that way.

“I know how this works,” Harper called out evenly, and with almost no emotion in her voice too. “I know what I saw. I know what happens to me now. I get that. Maybe I deserve it too - after all the shit I’ve pulled, after all the times I’ve barely gotten away by the skin of my teeth, maybe it was always headed this way, you know? Sooner or later, I was gonna get myself in a situation I wouldn’t be able to get out of, and here we are.”

Some new resolve crept through him, and he told her firmly, “I’m gonna get you out of this. Everything is gonna be -”

“If you tell me everything's gonna be  _ fine _ , I will scream my head off, and then you’ll  _ have  _ to act fast, won’t you? Maybe I should just do that and get all this over with already.”

“Look, I know exactly what you _think_ I’m thinking right now, and you’re wrong, okay? The last thing I wanna do right now is load you up in a van with the other two, alright? You didn’t do anything wrong here. And I meant it when I said I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.”

Her nose crinkled at him and she shook her head in disbelief. “Why? Why do you even  _ care _ , Jax? You don’t like me. I don’t like you. I’d think you’d be happy to get rid of me, even if it means you have to -”

“ _ Don’t _ ,” he cut in roughly. “Don’t fucking finish that sentence because it’s not gonna happen.”

“Why?” she demanded. “I don’t get it.”

He scrubbed both hands over his face again, and lifting his eyes up to her one more time, he dug into his kutte again for his cigarettes. After lighting another one up, he tossed her his pack and his lighter again. He watched her slip one out and light it up, and couldn’t believe the words that were about to come out of his mouth, but he let them come anyway.

“A couple months ago, the ATF were diggin’ around, tryin’ to find anything they could on the club,” he told her in a quiet voice that surprised even him. “They got desperate and started putting some pressure on one of our members to get him to rat. He’d just gotten outta Stockton - he’d been in for about five years up until then and him and his wife...they were struggling with it. Had some money problems too. The ATF zeroed in on that pretty quickly and targeted him, and then, they sunk even lower by tryin’ to make us think he was actually ratting on us. I didn’t believe it, but Clay did.”

His eyes flicked up to Harper then, and he found her watching him carefully, waiting for him to make a wrong move, to give her some kind of sign that this was just one big ruse to keep her calm and cooperative.

“Clay decided, on his own and without bothering to have a conversation with Ope about it, that the ATF were feeding him truth, not lies, and he decided to take Ope out before Ope could take  _ us  _ out. So, he put a hit on one of his own club brothers, and told Tig, our sergeant at arms, to do the deed. He followed Ope’s truck one night, thinking Ope was the one in the driver’s seat, and he fired a shot through the driver’s head. The problem was, Ope wasn’t the one driving - his  _ wife _ was.”

Jax nodded tightly when he saw Harper take in a sharp breath, and her forehead wrinkle into a deep frown. 

“And then, a couple weeks ago, I think Ope just couldn’t handle it all, you know? The guilt, the grief...he  _ had  _ to know it was the club. He never said it out loud, but I could see it on him. Could see it weighing on him. I think he couldn’t live without Donna, and I don’t think he could live  _ with  _ the club anymore either. So, he hopped on his bike one day and never came back. Officially, it was an accident - he took a turn too sharp, too deep and slid right into oncoming traffic, but I think he just let the road take him and put him out of his misery. I can’t really blame him either.”

Harper flicked some ash from her cigarette, and tilted her head to the side as she studied him closely. “That was your best friend, right?”

“Yeah,” Jax murmured hoarsely. “He was.”

“I’m sorry.”

“And,” he went on with a tight nod, letting his eyes settle back on her so she could see that he was serious. “The reason my best friend and his wife are dead, and the reason their kids are orphans, is because of that motherfucking piece of shit out there,” he gestured with his head to the door behind him, “he might be my club president, but he hasn’t done much that’s actually been presidential these days. The choices he’s been making, the way he’s been running this club right into the ground...I guess you could say I don’t really agree with him.”

Her lips curled a little at his shitty attempt at some humor in a situation where there really was none. “Makes sense.”

“And because I don’t agree,” Jax pushed on in a firm voice. “He and I have had some... _ issues _ , I guess is one way to put it.”

“I gathered that, seeing as how you two were punching each other in the face yesterday out in the parking lot.”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “We don’t exactly enjoy being in each other’s presence anymore if we can help it,” he leaned in to tap some ash into the tray, narrowly avoiding brushing up against her knuckles in the process, “but long story short, Clay made a mistake with Ope. And that mistake cost Ope his wife - who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like you were tonight. You and Donna...neither of you did anything wrong, and you shouldn’t have to pay for our sins and our mistakes. Clay made the wrong call, in the wrong way, and without asking himself or anyone else the right questions. I’m not gonna do that, okay? I’m not gonna fall into the same trap and let the club go down the wrong path for the second time in just a few fuckin’ weeks. I’m not Clay...but if I let this happen, if I make the same mistake with you that he made with Donna and Ope, then I’ll be putting myself on the path to end up just like him. And honestly, I think I’d rather let the road take  _ me _ , just like Ope did, than have to reconcile the fact that I turned into the one thing I hate more than anything I’ve ever hated in my life.”

He dropped all that there for her to pick up, and he knew she would. Harper stared back at him, studying him, appraising him, trying to figure out just how much of this was smoke and mirrors and how much of it she should take at face value. This wasn’t one of her crazy stories though. This was the truth - cold, hard facts that he couldn’t ignore, and he didn’t want her to either.

“And all that being said, Harper,” he went on quietly. “I told you all this because I wanted to be honest with you, and I wanted you to understand what’s really goin’ on here because it has a helluva lot more to do with me and Clay than it really has to do with you, or even the two dead guys out in the parking lot. I don’t trust Clay to do the right thing here, even if we agreed on what that right thing was, which we obviously don’t. But at least, I’ve got the advantage here because I’m the one who pulled the trigger, and technically, dealin’ with you, and what you saw, is on me. And there’s another way to handle this other than Clay’s way...I just don’t know what that is yet. And when I tell you I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, I want you to know I mean it, for all those reasons I just said, and because I really don’t believe you deserve to suffer just for bein’ in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

He waited long enough to see her sift through everything he’d just said, and to finally come to the realization that he wasn’t lying, and that he’d meant every word.

“And when I said that I believed you when you told me you’re not gonna say anything,” he made sure to make eye contact with her as he spoke, “I meant that too. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, Harper, and I’m not gonna let my club keep making the same mistakes over and over again.”

At the end of the day, this really didn’t have anything to do with her - well, it did and it didn’t. This really  _ was  _ about him and Clay, and he was going to do everything in his power to keep the club from going down the same path with Harper, as they’d gone down with Opie and Donna. There’d be no more innocent blood shed - not on his fucking watch.

And then, her eyes softened just enough to let him know she’d heard him, and that she understood as much as someone on the outside was able to, he tipped his chin to her with an easy grin.

“So you gonna tell me that bullshit story about you gettin’ taken hostage or what?”

* * *

The next morning, Jax shook himself out of the groggy half-asleep, half-awake state he’d sunk into long after Harper had fallen asleep on the floor, and he pressed his head into the door behind him, squeezing his eyes shut at the throbbing in between his temples. For once, that throbbing wasn’t from a hangover. He’d spent the whole night with his back against the door and his knees pushed up into his chest, watching Harper sleep on that blanket he’d laid for her on the floor.

The whole time, he racked his brain for some solution. Some kind of reassurance he could give Clay, and the rest of the club, that Harper wasn’t going to do anything stupid, and so all this could just blow over.

He’d come up empty.

With a heavy sigh, he crawled over to the sleeping girl on his floor, and gently shook her awake. Here it was...yet another first for him. He’d definitely ended up on the floor with a girl before in his dorm, but at some point they’d usually made it back up to the bed, and if they  _ did  _ stay on the floor for the night, they were still tangled up in blankets and naked limbs. He’d definitely never spent the night on the floor with the girl sleeping, fully clothed, five feet away from him while he forced himself to stay awake with his back against the door.

And he’d just be lying to himself if he tried to tell anyone he’d forced himself to stay awake, with his back to the door, only to make sure no one else came inside. He’d also wanted to make sure no one left too.

“Hey,” he murmured to Harper as he shook her shoulder. “Come on. Time to get going.”

It took her a few moments to really come out of it, but her eyes fluttered open, immediately scanning the room, and his face, as if she’d momentarily forgotten where she was and why she was here. Then her eyes squeezed shut again, and she ran a hand over her face with a sleepy groan. He pushed up to his feet, and he held a hand out to her.

Harper eyed his hand carefully, and with some uneasiness that made his chest tighten and twist violently. But after some consideration, she gingerly slipped her hand inside his and let him pull her up to her feet. Once she was standing, he dropped her hand and shoved his hands in his pockets, watching with some uneasiness of his own now as she put her heels back on and reached for her purse.

When she met him at the door, her eyes - now looking a little more green this morning than blue - lifted up to him with some new uncertainty and some anxiety that he didn’t particularly like. It didn’t help that he knew  _ he  _ was the reason for that uncertainty and that anxiety, and that she had good reason to feel that way. All his assurances aside, all his promises aside, there was only so much he could do, and only so much fast-talking he could attempt before it just might be too late for them both.

“I’m gonna put my arm around you again on our way out, okay?” he told her quietly, wincing a little when the light in her eyes dimmed at that. “You did good last night when we walked in, and I think if we just play it that way again now, that should be enough to make sure everyone thinks a certain way about what you were doing in here, you know?’

“I get it,” she nodded, swallowing hard as he opened the door. She hesitated, staring at the empty hallway like she just couldn’t put one foot in front of the other.

“I’m gonna take you to your place, like I told you I would last night. You can change, do whatever else you gotta do, and then I’ll bring you back here for your shift at the shop. That’s it, okay? That’s all this is.”

That seemed to give her enough to at least keep moving for now, and she pressed a tight smile to face as he dropped a hand to her back to steer her out into the hallway. Once they approached the clubhouse’s main floor, he moved his hand up her back and draped his arm around her shoulder, letting his fingertips dangle casually against her collarbone with just enough faux-familiarity to look like they’d been getting more familiar with each other in his dorm all night too. Harper played the part, surprising him when she gripped the hand over her shoulder and leaned into him, slipping her free hand around his waist like she’d done last night.

It was certainly enough to look real, and he glanced down at her with a sly grin, just in case anyone was watching.

“You’re doin’ great, princess,” he murmured in her ear. “Who knew it’d be so easy for you to pretend like we just hooked up?”

“Nothing about this is easy,” she muttered back to him, but to her credit, she glanced up with a grin, looking at him as if they shared some kind of secret, like how she might actually look at him if they  _ had  _ hooked up the night before. She really was a damn good actress.

But her words hit him hard, and he had to force himself to recover quickly as he steered her around the side of the bar. He let his eyes flick up long enough to keep up the front that this was all normal, that this was just a girl he’d had in his room last night and now he was walking her out - even though that wasn’t really a thing he usually did - and then his eyes dropped on Clay.

The club’s prez lingered casually at the bar with a beer in front of him and a cigar in between his lips, but his eyes were anything but casual. They hardened the second they made contact with Jax, and Clay’s entire face turned to stone. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Clay was thinking right now, and they could have a conversation about that later, but for now, he just needed to get Harper the hell out of here.

By the time they got out into the parking lot, Harper stiffened and her steps stalled right in her tracks. He’d dropped the act the second they pushed through the clubhouse’s double doors, but when Harper stalled, he stalled too, his eyes immediately lifting to what had tripped her up.

Gemma stood on the steps of T-M’s office, hands on hips, and a deep frown written on her face. That frown only deepened when she realized they’d seen her, and that Harper was staring back at her like a deer caught in headlights. And because Gemma was smart, and had been around long enough to know the score, she shot Harper a cheerful wave and then turned on her heel to head back inside the office.

He ran a hand over his face as he led Harper to one T-M’s trucks, and because he just didn’t know what else to do, he hurried around to the passenger side to pull open the door for her. Harper’s gaze lifted up to him, her eyes filled with quiet resignation and a little bit of defiance that made his lips quirk at the corners, and then she slid inside the passenger side of the truck.

They didn’t speak the entire drive to her parents’ house. What was there really left to say between them? Clay had obviously told Gemma not to plan on Harper showing up for her shift at the office today. Harper was smart enough to see that. And she was also smart enough not to ask him why they were even going through with this charade - why he was even bothering to take her anywhere that wasn’t the clubhouse or some deserted field outside of town.

But he was holding firm to the belief that he could stop this, even if he was holding on by a thread.

The next hour or so seemed to drag on as he sat at her parents’ kitchen table, trying not to linger on the fact that she was in the shower, or that, after he heard the bathroom door open and close, she was headed to a bedroom to change. He’d never felt so uncomfortable in his life...sitting here, with that ever-present lump in his throat growing with each second that ticked by. 

And when his prepay buzzed inside his kutte, he was starting to feel like the walls were closing in on him. That feeling didn’t dissipate when he glanced at the caller ID, but he flipped it open anyway.

“‘Sup, bro?”

“Hey, Jax,” Tommy replied from the other end of the line. The anxiety and slight shake in Tommy’s voice made his heart sink. “Where are you right now?”

“I took her to her parents’ house.”

“Why the fuck would you do that, bro?” Tommy exhaled roughly. “You shoulda kept her at the clubhouse.”

“I know, I know,” he sighed, running a hand over his eyes. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

“I get it...look, we gotta problem. A  _ big  _ fucking problem,” Tommy’s voice shook again on every syllable. “I got a call from Stahl this morning. Apparently, the ATF had two operatives in the field - one was an undercover agent, the other was an informant - and they went MIA last night. They were supposed to make contact with a local crime organization and report back when the meeting was over, but they never called in. Stahl wanted to know if I’d heard anything from them. Guess who the operatives in the field were?”

And that was the moment the bottom dropped out. He sat there at the kitchen table, hunched over with his head in his hands. 

“I already called Clay,” Tommy went on. “He wants to meet at our usual spot, and he wants you to bring Harper.”

“Fuck,” Jax exhaled and squeezed his eyes shut. And then he shook his head furiously, even if his brother couldn’t see it. “I’m not doin’ it, Tommy. I’m not gonna -”

“I know, bro,” Tommy sighed. “Look, there’s gotta be a way out of this, right? We’ll talk to Clay, calm him down, and then we’ll figure it out, just like we always do.”

Jax nodded tightly, even if it was just to himself. They’d figure it out. There  _ had  _ to be a way to appease Clay enough, not to mention long enough, for him to understand Harper wasn’t a threat. He pushed down the reality that tugged and nagged at him - that maybe there really  _ was  _ no real way out of this, except to do the thing he’d promised himself he’d never do. For a moment, he let himself picture it, Harper on her knees in the dirt, him standing behind her with a gun in his hand, and then he sprinted for the sink, and emptied his stomach inside it.

He managed to pull himself together long enough to knock on Harper’s door. About two seconds later, the door opened a crack so she could poke her face through.

“Hey,” he swallowed back the lump in his throat and tried to smile at her. “We gotta get going.”

Harper hesitated, with some more uneasiness creeping across her face and seeping in through her eyes. At that moment, he’d never hated himself more.

He’d done this. He’d put this look in her eye. This girl, who was normally so full of life and irreverence, even if her stories were complete bullshit...he’d stripped her of all that now. In this moment, he’d do anything to give it back to her if he could - if he had a way, he’d do it in a heartbeat.

But she followed him back out to the driveway, where the truck was waiting for them, and she let him hold the passenger side door open for her again, her emotionless eyes lifting up to his only once before she slid inside the truck. He winced from the impact - and maybe  _ this  _ was the moment. The moment where he couldn’t possibly hate himself more.

They drove in silence to the usual spot where the club met with Tommy when they needed to be more discreet, and further away from prying eyes. It was right outside city limits, off the beaten path, covered in dirt roads and open desert fields. The perfect meeting place between an outlaw MC and the chief of police who was playing for both sides. It was also the perfect place to dump any unnecessary baggage that needed to be unloaded.

When he parked the truck at the end of a long, dirt road, where two bikes and a squad car were already waiting for them, he heard Harper inhale sharply next to him. His head immediately turned to face her, but she wouldn’t make eye contact with him. Wouldn’t give him that satisfaction or that victory over her. And even he had to admit, her strength, her resolve, her tenacity...it was pretty damn impressive.

Anyone else would be shaking and sobbing right now. Pleading for mercy. Begging for another chance. But not her.

“I need you to stay in the truck,” he told her quietly, but he kept his eyes on the leather kuttes and the cop waiting for him just beyond the end of the road. “I’m gonna go talk to Clay and Tommy right now. We’re gonna figure everything out, and then I’ll be back, okay?”

He waited long enough to see her nod from the corner of his eye, and he swallowed hard.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Jax whispered into the silence between them. “I’m gonna figure this out.”

Harper’s head turned to him just a little, but before he had a chance to look at her, she straightened again, facing forward so that her eyes were anywhere but on him. He gave himself one more moment to pull his shit together, and then he got out of the truck, casting one more glance at her from over his shoulder as he closed the distance between the trio waiting for him.

Clay tipped his chin to him in greeting with a wry smile. “Morning, son. You look like hell.”

All Jax could do was glare. He didn’t have the energy for much else, and he knew he needed to save what little energy he actually had left for whatever was about to happen next.

“Alright, alright,” Tommy held his hands out toward them to keep the peace, situating himself between Clay and Jax, with Tig rounding up the other corner in this fucked up square. “Let’s just get this over with, okay? We gotta figure this out, and we gotta figure it out now before the ATF roll into town. I don’t have an official ETA yet, but they’re coming and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”

“Well,” Clay threw out casually. “I guess this is what we get for takin’ a meeting with an undercover ATF agent and his informant, huh?”

“Yeah, well,” Jax snarled back, curling his hands into tight fists at his sides. “Maybe if you’d listened to me and called that fucking meeting off, none of us would be standing here right now.”

“Hey,” Clay jabbed a finger at him. “If I could go back and do it over again, I’d make a different call, alright? But here we are, and here  _ she  _ is,” he gestured with a hand toward the truck, “and I think there’s only one option that keeps everyone in the clear. I don’t like it anymore than anyone else, but I just don’t see any other way.”

“Jesus Christ, Clay,” Tommy exhaled, shaking his head at his step-father. “That’s my wife’s fucking  _ sister _ . She’s as close to family as that’s gonna get, and I’m not gonna stand here and let you take her out like this.”

Clay just lifted a shoulder. “That girl over there just saw your brother shoot an undercover ATF agent and his informant in the head. Now, we all know the ATF isn’t gonna let this shit go. They’re gonna dig and dig and dig until they find something because they know exactly who Zobelle and Weston were supposed to be meeting last night. They’ll leave no stone unturned, and that’s gonna include interviewing everyone and anyone who was on our lot yesterday at any given point. It’s not gonna take them long before they interview every employee at T-M, just because they can, and sooner or later, they’re gonna land on  _ her _ .”

“And,” Tig jumped in like the good little lap dog he was, “without her, they’ve got nothing, right? She’d be their star witness, and the only real evidence they’d have that anyone did anything at all in that parking lot last night.”

“Not to mention,” Clay offered with an easy grin that made Jax want to punch him in the face. “She can put every single one of us at the scene. She’s got Jax pulling the trigger, and all the rest of us in as accessories, including you, Chief. And you know what else that means? That means this whole thing,” he gestured toward Tommy’s uniform, ”it’s all shot to shit then too.”

Tommy’s head dipped down to the ground and he sighed heavily. His eyes flicked to Jax only once, and Jax didn’t like what he saw. All Jax could do was coil his hands into fists.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Tommy murmured. “There’s gotta be another way.”

When Clay just barked out a bitter laugh, that finally jerked Jax out of the fog he’d sunk into.

“She’s not gonna rat, Clay,” Jax told him quietly. “I know she won’t.”

“Why?” Clay laughed. “Just because she promised you she wouldn’t? Come on, son, you know better than to trust a pretty face like that. She’s gonna tell you whatever’s gonna keep her out of a six-foot hole.”

“She’s not gonna rat.”

Now, Clay took an aggressive step forward. “That’s not good enough for me, and it shouldn’t be good enough for you either. If the ATF get her to talk - and they  _ will  _ \- you’re lookin’ at death row, son. No judge or jury is gonna give you anything less. And what about Tommy, huh? They’d nab him for accessory, aiding and abetting, and then he loses everything too. No job, no wife...no life. It’s all over for Tommy too. Is that what you want?”

Jax swallowed hard, and looked down at his white sneakers. Clay was right about that. He really was - Tommy’s life would be over. Not to mention his own. He sucked in a harsh breath and scrubbed his hands over his face because he just didn’t know what else to do.

“Look,” Clay just shook his head, spreading his hands out a little too casually for their current predicament. “All the ATF gotta do is dangle that debt her parents left behind over her head, just like they did with Ope and Donna.”

Jax’s lips curled back into a snarl. “Don’t you fucking do that...don’t you even say their  _ names _ right now, you asshole.”

“Hey,” Clay held his hands up in defense. “It’s true. You know what they’re gonna do. They’ll tell her they’ll clear out that debt, make sure no lawsuits get filed from her parents’ accident, and throw in witness protection just to sweeten the deal. Gemma told me that girl is smart, and if she’s smart, she’ll take that deal in a heartbeat, and when she does, she’s ending your lives in the process.”

“This is bullshit,” Tommy spat back. “That’s my  _ wife’s  _ sister, Clay. We can’t get rid of her like that. We just can’t - how the hell am I supposed to go home to her every night if we do this shit, huh?”

“You go home to her every night just like you always do,” Tig threw out with a shrug. “You’ve already got a million lies tied up in her anyway. What’s one more?”

“Fuck you, Tig,” Tommy snarled. “That’s not fair, and this isn’t the same thing as everything else. We’re talking about...we’re  _ really  _ standing here and talking about taking out my wife’s sister. We can’t. We just  _ can’t _ .”

Clay just lifted a shoulder and shook his head. “The way I see it, it’s either you or her, son. It’s either your brother or her. Who you gonna pick?”

That shut Tommy up real quick. And now, Jax found himself eyeing his brother with a tinge of disappointment. Because right about now, Tommy looked a little bit like he was seriously considering what Clay was saying, and that he was also seriously considering that Clay’s way might be the only way.

“I don’t want my wife getting in the middle of this,” Tommy murmured, shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels with his eyes on the dirt at their feet.

Jax glanced at Tommy warily, chewing on the inside of his cheek in thought. There  _ had _ to be some other way. There just  _ had _ to be.

“Your wife isn’t gonna get wind of this,” Clay shrugged. “You’ve done a damn good job keepin’ all this away from her so far. I’m sure you can do it again.”

“Yeah, well,” Tommy shot back hotly. “When Harper suddenly goes missing…” he trailed off, like he just realized what he’d really just said, and his eyes flicked up to Jax with a wince. 

Jax was gonna be sick. His throat burned, and he had to swallow back some bile that crept up through the back of his throat. This wasn’t happening right now. This just wasn’t fucking happening.

“When Harper goes missing,” Tommy went on grimly, and more quietly than before like it was now a foregone conclusion. “And with the ATF in town, they’re gonna dig into that too. They won’t miss how awfully convenient that’ll look - if one of T-M’s employees suddenly goes missing right after their agent and their informant goes missing too, and my wife will be brought in for questioning. I just know it, and I can’t have that, Clay. I won’t drag her into this shit if I can help it.”

“What difference does it make?” Clay just shrugged. “Even if she knew anything in the first place, it’s not like they could ever use it against you. Marital privilege and all that shit, right?” And then he barked out a laugh and reached out to clap Jax on the shoulder, “There you go, son. All you gotta do is marry the broad and we’re in the clear.”

Jax’s lips curled back into a snarl, and he couldn’t stop himself from lunging out to shove Clay in the chest. “Fuck you, Clay. That’s not funny. This is serious shit right now - I don’t care what you think. I don’t care what Tommy thinks. I’m not doin’ it. I’m just not.”

Clay’s eyebrows lifted warily as he shoved away from Jax. “Oh, I know how serious this shit is right now. And as far as I’m concerned, we just need to take care of it now. We’re in the right spot anyway for it, so we do it now before the ATF get here. That gives us plenty of time to cover our tracks with the girl and make it look like she just up and left town.”

All Jax could do was shake his head furiously. He couldn’t believe they were all standing here, talking like this was something they were  _ actually  _ going to do. Even Tommy...he just couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that his little brother was  _ actually _ going along with this. 

“This is real fucking great,” Jax murmured as he ran another hand over his face. “So this is what we’re all okay with? We’re all just gonna sit here and agree that the only way out of this is to bring an innocent woman out here and put a bullet in her head?  _ That’s  _ really the play we’re gonna make?”

Tommy threw his hands up in the air helplessly. “What other options are there, Jax? Clay’s right. If the ATF get to her, and they  _ will _ , she’s gonna take whatever deal they throw at her because she’s not stupid. And then what happens, huh? You rot on death row until they put a needle in your arm and the rest of us fucking do, what, 15 or 20 years on accessory charges - we’re talking about the death of federal agent here, even if you take the informant out of the mix. Weston was a fucking  _ federal _ agent. And you killed him, Jax, and we were there and dumped the body. Clay’s right. No judge, no jury... _ no one _ is gonna show any of us any kind of leniency here. Our lives are all over if we don’t do this.”

“Yeah?” Jax shot back. “And what about  _ her _ life, huh?”

Clay just lifted a shoulder. “Four lives in exchange for one? I don’t know...I think I can live with that.”

Jax lunged forward and grabbed Clay by the lapels of his kutte with a menace that surprised even himself. “Well, I  _ can’t _ . This is not what we do, Clay. This is  _ not _ who we are. We don’t kill innocent women, and we don’t fucking stoop to that level just because shit gets hard.”

“I don’t know what else to tell you, son,” Clay spat as he shoved himself out of Jax’s grip. “There’s no other way -”

Jax lunged for him again, grabbing him by the front of his shirt this time to force the old man to see what he saw. “No other way? Just like Donna? Just like Ope? You were so fucking quick to rule against Ope, weren’t you? So fucking quick to believe anything Stahl threw at you about him without even giving Ope a  _ chance  _ to prove her wrong. And what happened, huh? You jumped the gun, you didn’t think it through, you didn’t give anyone a  _ chance _ . So maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised. You obviously didn’t have a problem pulling the trigger on Donna - oh wait, sorry. That was an  _ accident _ , right?”

Clay snarled at him, throwing his fist out aimlessly, but Jax juked out of the way easily, keeping his grip firmly on the fucker’s shirt.

“No,” Jax told him darkly. “You really meant to pull the trigger on one of our brothers, didn’t you? It was a good thing Ope just ended up finishing the job for you. Sure saved you a lot of time and energy and blowback.”

Now, Clay just shoved against his grip, yanking Jax’s wrists away from his shirt, and then shoving Jax right in the chest to put some more space between them.

“You know how I feel about what happened with Ope,” Clay jabbed an angry finger at him. “You know how I feel about what happened with Donna. It was all a terrible, fucking accident and all a terrible, fucking mistake. But  _ this _ , Jax... _ this  _ isn’t that. I’m looking at this clear-eyed and level-headed, and I don’t know about you, but I just don’t see another way that we all get out of this in one piece.”

“I’m not doing it, Clay,” Jax shook his head furiously. “I’m just not fucking doing it.”

Clay just lifted a shoulder. “Then I will.”

“Me too,” Tig nodded stiffly, folding his hands in front of him like a good boy.

Jax glared back at Tig with some dark menace. “Yeah, I bet you would.”

And since Tig didn’t have a leg to stand on, he held his hands up and backed down. What else was there to say at this point? 

But Jax was ready to fight to the death on this. He really fucking was. Right about now, he had half a mind to tell that sorry piece of shit who called himself club president to dig another hole right next to Harper’s. If this was how they were going to be, if this was what the _club_ was going to be, then he was better off dead in a hole than to have to live with this for the rest of his life.

“I don’t give a shit what anybody says,” Jax bit out, his voice hardened with ice and fire. “We  _ don’t _ kill innocent women. Women are supposed to be untouchable - fucking protected, and we’ve been doing a real shitty job of that up until now. We’ve got a chance to do the right thing here, and not act like goddamn animals who got backed into a corner. We’re  _ not  _ putting a bullet in her head. That’s not the answer.”

“Oh yeah?” Clay shot back with a laugh. “So what is the answer then? ‘Cuz from where I’m standin’, you’ve either gotta set her up like Tommy and Willa, or you gotta put a bullet in her head. And I think we all know which one of those you’re gonna choose.”

Jax’s lips curled back into another snarl as he dove for the old bastard and slammed him into the dirt. He reared his fist back so he could drive it right into Clay’s fucking smug face, and then again before Clay got in a blow of his own, and then another, before Jax was flipped on his back with Clay’s hands wrapped around his neck. Finally, Tig got ahold of Clay’s shoulders and got him off Jax with Tommy’s help, and even as Tommy pulled Jax up to his feet, he lunged at the smug bastard again.

“This is how it’s gonna be?” Jax barked at him. “Every fuckin’ time we run into trouble, this is gonna be the answer? This is how you’re gonna run this club?”

Clay jabbed a finger at him, even as Tig held him back. “Get your shit together, Jax. This isn’t just about  _ you _ .”

“I don’t give a fuck,” Jax roared back, shoving and pulling against Tommy’s strong grip. “I’m not towing the party line just because that’s what  _ you  _ want.”

Clay glared at him with an aggression and a hatred Jax had never seen in him before. “You don’t have a choice. Now get your shit together and take care of it, or I fuckin’ will.”

That was all Jax needed to hear to set him off again, and he raged against Tommy with a desperate roar until he broke free and sprinted right for the source of all this misery. He was on Clay again in a flash, pummeling him mercilessly until Tommy and Tig both wrapped their arms around him to yank him away.

Jax staggered away a few paces, his chest heaving, and he winced a little at the sharp pain shooting through his chest - a nagging reminder that he hadn’t remembered to take his meds this morning - and he rubbed at that spot above his heart on reflex, and because he didn’t know what else to do. He wanted to punch Clay in the face some more, but that really wasn’t getting them anywhere either.

“Everyone just calm down here a second,” Tommy called out calmly and evenly, as he held his arms out to keep himself in between his brother and his step-dad. His eyes dropped down to the ground in thought, and Jax could see the wheels in his head turning and turning, until his head snapped back up to face him. “What if Jax and Harper did get married?”

“Oh, fuck you,” Jax huffed, pushing himself away from his brother to put some space in between him and this trio of assholes. “I said that wasn’t funny, and it still isn’t.”

“Well,” Tommy shrugged helplessly. “What other options are there? It’s just like Clay said about me and Willa - about spousal privilege and all that. She could never testify against you if there’s legal paperwork in place saying she can’t. Even the ATF can’t get around that.”

Clay just barked out a laugh and shook his head with his hands on his hips. “I  _ was  _ really just kidding. I didn’t really mean Jax should actually  _ marry _ the broad.”

Tommy threw his hands up in the air again and glanced at Jax. And despite everything, Jax had to stop and take a pause. His mind just sort of went...blank. The idea was a stretch, and a pretty fucking disastrous one, but... _ but _ .

_ Was  _ there really another option?

“I’m just saying,” Tommy went on, his eyes still on Jax like he could read his mind. “If Jax and Harper get all the paperwork on file now,  _ today _ , before the ATF even get here, that gives us time to come up with a story and get the right people up to speed. And if that paperwork is already signed and filed before Stahl sets up shop again, and before she even catches wind that Harper could be connected, that just strengthens your case and weakens hers.”

Jax chewed on the inside of his cheek absentmindedly. His mind was still completely and absolutely blank as he grappled for some other alternative but came up empty. Because everything Tommy was saying  _ did  _ carry some weight.

“Not to mention the fact that,” Tommy laughed a little. “It gives you an alibi too. You know?”

“What do you mean?” Jax frowned.

Tommy just shrugged and blew out a heavy sigh. “Everyone saw you take her back to your room last night, didn’t they? And people saw you leave with her this morning, right?”

His mind drifted back to the little act they’d put on going to and from his dorm, and knew that, whether he liked it or not, Tommy was right. It was just the easiest way to get a girl inside - if it looked like you were on your way to a hook-up, no one batted an eye. No one asked questions, and they pretty much left you alone too.

Jax bit down on his bottom lip again in thought as he nodded to Tommy.

“Right,” Tommy confirmed with a nod. “So when the ATF ask you where you were the night Zobelle and Weston went missing and what you were doing, you can tell them you were in your dorm with Harper all night, and it’s not  _ technically  _ a lie. And you’ve got plenty of witnesses in the clubhouse that can vouch for that too. And  _ they  _ wouldn’t be lying either. I don’t know...we could say you guys have been hooking up this whole time or something like that and decided to get married last night when you were in your dorm. And, if all that paperwork is in place, like I said, Harper kinda has to back you up too. It’s a win-win, right? She gets the protection from the club, and you get the alibi for when the ATF come knocking. ”

Even Tig was starting to nod in agreement as he chimed in, “I guess...if Harper’s gone, Jax doesn’t really  _ have  _ an alibi for last night anymore, does he? And if everyone saw you two go in and out of your dorm last night, and think you’re hooking up now, that makes it less...I don’t know, less of a shock when everyone finds out you ran off and got married?”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Clay muttered as he ran a hand over his eyes. “This is the craziest bullshit I’ve ever heard.”

“Well,” Tommy held his hands out again desperately. “It would work, wouldn’t it? And it would keep my wife’s sister alive and keep the rest of us outta prison and Jax off death row. If they don’t have Harper’s testimony, they’ve got nothing against any of us. Maybe this is the only way  _ everyone  _ actually gets out of this in one piece.”

By now, Jax had sunk to a deep crouch, leaning forward to catch himself from falling face down in the dirt. He dropped his head into his hands, his whole body starting to tremble as Tommy lowered down to meet him in the eye.

“No one’s saying you actually gotta be  _ married _ to her, bro,” Tommy told him quietly. “But if you’ve got a legal document that puts the right provisions in place to protect you,  _ and  _ her, the ATF can’t make her testify against you. Even if she did tell them everything she saw, they couldn’t use it in court. And her testimony is all they’d ever have to link you to Zobelle and Weston.”

Right. Because a wife couldn’t be forced to testify against her husband in court. That was the fucking law, and even the ATF couldn’t get around that.

He swallowed hard, grimacing at the words  _ wife  _ and  _ husband _ , but he just pushed that down for now. All that shit could be dealt with later because right now, with his back up against the wall and Clay all but forcing his finger on the trigger, he just didn’t see another way out of this that would actually work.

“How would we even do it, though?” Jax murmured hoarsely, wincing at the way his stomach churned. “If we gotta do it today, how does this shit even work?”

Tommy shrugged again, and Jax glanced up at him with some exasperation. This little shit really had all the answers today, didn’t he? But not before he was so quick to throw his wife’s sister to the wolves either.

“You do what me and Willa did,” Tommy told him. “Reno’s only a three-hour drive away, and they don’t have a waiting period. You could get a license and get everything legal all in the span of a few hours today, and then it’s done, and then there’s nothing the ATF can do about it.”

Jax covered his face with his hands. Part of him wanted to cry. Part of him wanted to punch Tommy in the fucking face. Part of him just wanted to run away. Maybe he could just start walking aimlessly in this deserted field and just let nature take its course. But at some point, he knew there was really only one thing left to do. If his choices were driving her to Reno today, or pulling her out of that truck right now and putting a bullet in her head...then what else was he supposed to do?

He’d never felt more helpless or fucking hopeless in his life.

He knew, instinctively, what he needed to do. What the  _ right  _ thing was to do, even if it didn’t really seem like it right now. And while he knew he’d definitely regret it later, and would probably regret it for the rest of his life, he was out of options and out of time.

So, he pushed himself up to his feet, took a deep breath, and stalked toward the truck, where Harper was waiting for him. He swallowed hard at the sight of her sitting in that truck, all by herself, having been close enough to see what was happening in front of her, but not close enough to hear what was being said. Her eyes widened when she realized he was walking toward her now, and her lips parted, almost as if she was sucking in a shaky breath, like she knew this was the end, and her grim reaper was headed right for her.

The irony of that wasn’t lost on him.

“What are you gonna do, Jax?” Clay called out from behind him.

“I’m fucking taking care of this,” he shot back over his shoulder, and he kept walking, picking up his pace to just get to the truck, before he lost the nerve, and before he changed his mind.

Then he jumped into the driver’s side of the truck, turned the key, put the truck in reverse, and peeled away from the end of that long, dirt road as fast as the truck could carry them.   
  



	7. Chapter Seven

As the truck sped down the road at breakneck speed, Harper gripped the holy shit bar by her window until her knuckles turned white. Jax took a sharp turn, practically spinning them out onto the main highway, with his chest heaving violently against his leather kutte. He kept twisting his hands around the top of the steering wheel, like that was the only thing keeping him from completely having a breakdown, and Harper just didn’t know where to look.

Didn’t know what to do.

Didn’t know how to make any sense of all this.

About 30 seconds ago, he’d been stalking toward the truck with the kind of grim resolve in his eyes that could  _ really  _ only mean one thing. When he opened the door, her whole life just about flashed before her eyes.

And then he’d done the strangest thing - he jumped into the driver’s seat, shifted into reverse, and sped out of there, leaving two bikes and a squad car behind in their dust.

“Jax.”

Maybe he hadn’t heard her above his gasps for air, and the way his eyes kept shooting up to the rearview mirror in a panic to make sure no one was following them, and the way his hands twisted and pulled at the steering wheel.

“Jax,” she tried again, a little bit louder this time.

Finally, his head turned to her and when their eyes met, his eyebrows dipped down into a frown and his entire face seemed to morph into something that looked more like terror than anything else.

“Jax? What are we doing here?”

With his eyes still fixed on the road ahead of them, he mumbled, “We’re gonna go to Reno.”

“What?” she huffed out a laugh. There was no way she’d heard him right.

“We gotta get married,” Jax exhaled roughly, biting down on his bottom lip as his hands twisted around the steering wheel again.

Her shoulders started to shake with laughter, and she just shook her head at him. Okay, so now he was just messing with her. This was just some kind of ploy to keep her under control and cooperative - they were probably  _ really  _ headed back to the clubhouse or something like that, only the clubhouse was actually in the opposite direction…

But then he turned his head to meet her in the eye and all that laughter died on her lips. He was  _ serious.  _ Dead effing serious. Wild blue eyes. Desperation written all over his face. Anxiety and tension rolling off his shoulders. He really  _ wasn’t  _ kidding.

“What?” she whispered, shaking her head in disbelief. “I don’t understand. Why -”

“It’s only the fucking way, Harper,” Jax bit out. He stepped on the gas then, shooting the truck forward even faster like they were in the middle of a highway robbery, speeding away in the getaway car. “This is the only way the club lets you be. You understand what I’m sayin’, right?”

She sucked in a shaky breath, her eyes flying back out to the blurring highway in front of her. 

“If we’re…” Jax trailed off like he just couldn’t bring himself to say the words out loud again. “You can’t testify against me if we make it legal. The ATF won’t have jackshit, and then they’ll have to just drop it and move on.”

“But - “ she tried before he cut her off.

“There’s no other way,” Jax shook his head furiously. “Trust me, if there was another option, I’d take it, but my only other choice was to…” he trailed off again, his face twisting violently at the realization of what  _ else  _ he’d almost said out loud.

Loud sirens blared from behind them, and Jax’s eyes flew to the rearview mirror again just as Harper’s head whipped around to see a familiar squad car gaining distance on them until it was almost bumper to bumper with the truck.

“Shit,” Jax muttered under his breath. “It’s Tommy.”

With nothing else to do, he finally eased up on the gas and steered the truck over to the side of the road and slammed the gear into park. As his hands still couldn’t give up their vice grip on the steering wheel, and as she heard the tell tale click and slam of a door right behind them, Jax’s quiet voice called out to her again.

“Those guys you saw me take out?” he didn’t want for her to respond, his gaze drifting back up to watch his brother approach in the rear view mirror. “One of them was an undercover ATF agent. The other one was his informant.”

And just like that, the bottom dropped out.

Her entire body stilled, save for the way her lips parted in shock. Up until now, she’d been under the impression that this was just a run of the mill hit or maybe even a misunderstanding between the club and the guys they’d met in the parking lot last night. But this... _ this  _ was something else entirely.  _ This  _ was deadly serious. And now, she felt the weight of Jax’s desperation and his panic and his wild eyes.

“Look,” Jax murmured to her now as Tommy sauntered up the truck’s window. “No matter what happens, just stay in the truck, okay? Even if he tells you it’s okay to get out, just...just stay in the truck.”

“But, Tommy -”

“Who, up until about five minutes ago, was all for walking you over to a six-foot hole, alright? Just stay in the fucking truck,” Jax bit out, and then he winced almost immediately, as if he hadn’t quite meant to say all of  _ that  _ out loud either.

And that was enough to shut her up pretty quickly, and she did just that - snapping her mouth shut and facing forward so she didn’t have to look at her brother-in-law if she didn’t have to. When Tommy rapped his knuckles against the window, Jax obliged by rolling the window down but that was as far as he went.

Tommy leaned casually against the driver’s side door, and from the corner of her eye, she could see an easy smile crossing his face. So calm and so cool under pressure.

“Jax,” Tommy started easily. “Let’s take a second and figure this out, okay? Come up with a plan - a story, somethin’ like that. You can’t go runnin’ off to Reno without takin’ a breather and without comin’ up with a plan first.”

If she hadn’t known ahead of time that Tommy had been ready to join her firing squad, she might’ve believed him.

“Alright,” Jax nodded with a tight smile, but his hands stayed right where they were, twisting around the steering wheel. And right about now, she wasn’t so sure if it was just because of nerves or because keeping his arms out on the steering wheel like that also created a bit of barrier between her and his brother.

“You got a three-hour drive ahead of you,” Tommy went on, dipping his head even lower to squint at Harper inside the truck. “When you get there, you gotta head to the county clerk - I can get you the address and text it to you. I’ll text you the name of the place where Willa and I had our ceremony too. That just saves you some time anyway and makes it easier.”

Jax nodded tightly and he sucked in a rough, anxious breath. “Alright.”

“All you need for the license is a photo ID,” Tommy told him, and then he glanced over at Harper on the other side of the truck. “You guys both got your driver’s licenses on you?”

With shaking hands and even shakier breath, Harper dug into her purse for her wallet, just to make absolutely sure that she really did have her driver’s license, even though she was pretty sure she did. Jax followed her lead, shifting his weight so he could dig into his back pocket for his wallet. Once he double-checked that he, too, had his license on him, he nodded to Tommy before putting his wallet back in his pocket.

“Okay,” Tommy dipped his head in a nod. “And then when you get back, maybe we tell Willa that you guys have been hooking up -”

“We’re not gonna lie to Willa,” Harper cut in sharply. “She’ll never believe it anyway.”

And  _ that  _ was the moment Tommy’s demeanor shifted on a dime, from the easy-going problem-solver to the cold, calculating liar that he was. 

“And what are we gonna tell her then, Harper?” Tommy bit out, his eyes turning into cold shards of blue ice.

Harper finally let herself look Tommy in the eye, and she wasn’t afraid of him. This was the same guy who was totally fine with lying to his wife at every turn, at keeping secret after secret, and leading her over to a six-foot hole, if necessary and if it saved his hide. This was also the same guy, who, if his attitude was to be believed, would also be totally fine with them faking a marriage in front of her sister.

“We’re  _ not  _ gonna try to convince her this is real,” Harper told him coolly. “You really expect her to believe that we just ran off and got married after, what, a couple of weeks of knowing each other? That just doesn’t make sense, Tommy. And she’s  _ not _ stupid. She’ll never believe that Jax and I have been hooking up this whole time and I never said anything about it. Besides, she had this whole stupid set-up dinner planned for tonight anyway and I agreed to it - you really think she’s not gonna wonder why I agreed to a set-up with someone I was already hooking up with?”

“Well,” Tommy shot back. “The alternative isn’t gonna happen.”

“Bro -” Jax tried, but Tommy just shook his head.

“No, we talked about this already, Jax. My  _ wife  _ isn’t gonna get dragged into this. Now, if this is the thing you gotta do to keep the peace and keep the blowback to a minimum, I’m with you 100 percent on that. You  _ know  _ that. I think this is the right call - you and Harper headin’ to Reno like this. But that doesn’t mean Willa needs to be part of it.”

Jax blew out a heavy sigh, twisting his hands around the steering wheel again, but Harper wasn’t about to stand down and bend to Tommy. Not like this. And not when her sister was involved.

“So what happens the first time Willa hears about Jax sleeping with some girl at the clubhouse, huh, Tommy?” Harper threw out evenly. “She’s gonna know something’s up and that something’s not right the second she realizes I’m not gonna kick Jax to the curb over it. She  _ knows  _ me, Tommy. And she  _ knows  _ that I just don’t tolerate that shit - I literally just broke up with my fiance because he cheated. Do you really think she’s not gonna wonder what’s actually going on? If she even believes that Jax and I got married for real in the first place?”

Jax blew out yet another heavy sigh, momentarily lifting his hands from the steering wheel so he could wearily scrub both hands over his eyes. A moment later, he had his hands back on the steering wheel, with his arms separating her from his brother.

“She kinda has a point, bro,” Jax called out with another tired sigh. “I don’t know how we explain that one.”

“So if we tell Willa you guys aren’t getting married for real, that this is a front, then the alternative is that we have to tell her the real story. You really wanna do that?” Tommy asked incredulously, shaking his head angrily. “You really wanna put my wife and your sister at risk like that? Because I’m not interested in doing that.”

Harper pushed out a heavy sigh, turning her head to glance at her brother-in-law. “Hasn’t she been lied to enough, Tommy?”

Both Jax and Tommy’s head whipped around in her direction, but it was Jax’s reaction that she found herself focusing on the most. While Tommy looked about ready to lunge through the window to wrap his hands around her throat, Jax’s lips curled up at the corners, like he wasn’t really all that surprised, and was more amused - or maybe impressed - than anything.

“And how is she gonna feel,” Harper went on, “when she figures out that we’ve been lying to her? Because she  _ will  _ figure it out, if we can even convince her any of this is real to begin with. She’ll never forgive us, Tommy, and I don’t know about you, but  _ I’m  _ not okay with that.”

“I don’t give a shit about any of that,” Tommy jabbed a finger at her through the window. “We  _ can’t  _ tell her what really happened. I’m not putting her in that position.”

Or, he was just more concerned about covering his own ass than anyone else’s. Who really cared about what happened to Harper? Or even his own brother? Or the fact that he was basically, and pretty selfishly too, asking them to fake a whole relationship and a marriage in front of her sister just so he could keep up his own pretenses. Just as long as he could still perpetuate all these lies he’d spun for Willa - there were so many at this point, it was a wonder any of them could see straight. 

“We don’t have to tell her what actually happened,” Harper offered quietly. “All she has to know is that I saw Jax do something that I shouldn’t have. Willa already knows the club isn’t exactly on the right side of the law. She knows I’m working at the shop and that I’m around people in the club all the time. That’s not gonna be a stretch for her to believe by any means. And since she’s already so good at deflecting and looking the other way, I doubt she’ll ask too many questions about what really happened.”

“Yeah?” Tommy’s hard eyes seemed to slice right through her. “You’ve obviously got all the answers here, Harper, so why don’t you enlighten us then? What happens if the ATF bring her in and wanna know what she knows about you and Jax? ”

Jax shot his brother a wary glance but kept quiet for now.

“So what?” Harper just shrugged. “If she doesn’t really know anything, she can’t tell them anything, can she? Even if she tells them I saw Jax do something, she can’t tell them what I saw him do because she wouldn’t know, because we’ll never tell her. That wouldn’t be  _ great  _ for us, but it wouldn’t get anyone arrested either.”

Now, Jax just huffed out a laugh and ran a hand over his face. “She’s right, bro. And we’ll never be able to keep up an act around Willa all the time, every time. She’ll figure it out one way or another, and maybe the right thing here is to just get ahead of it and get her on board as soon as we can. You can spin it however you gotta spin it for your sake, but we can’t lie to her. At least not completely.”

Tommy leaned back against the truck with his hands spread out around the window, and he dipped his head between his arms, swearing sharply under his breath. When he snapped his head back up to face them, his eyes squeezed shut just as quickly, as if he already knew that there was no point in arguing, that there was no point in trying to talk either of them out of what they all knew to be true.

For once in his life, Tommy Teller had to kind of, sort of tell the truth.

Served him right.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath, and then he shook his head with a heavy sigh. “Alright.  _ Alright _ . I get what you’re saying. Okay? I get it. Shit...I don’t know how I’m gonna explain how  _ I  _ know about any of this though.”

“Just…” Harper fumbled for something, anything that would appease him long enough to get him to agree, and so they could just get to Reno and get this over with already. “Just tell her Jax came to you for help or something like that. Tell her that you didn’t want anything to happen to me, because I’m her sister - she’ll like that - and you can say you don’t know what Jax did either but you’re helping us because he’s your brother and I’m her sister. It’ll probably take some convincing, and she might not really accept all that right away, but I don’t know what else we can tell her.”

She glanced over at the brothers, finding Jax studying her with careful eyes, and Tommy with his eyes on the ground as he turned all that over in his head.

“She thinks we’re all coming over for dinner tonight anyway,” Harper pressed on quietly. “You should probably make sure she knows that Jax and I aren’t coming - that would be a good time to bring her up to speed on everything.”

Tommy blew out a deep breath, ran a hand over his hand, and then he finally nodded in agreement. “Alright. I’ll figure it out. She’ll probably start blowing up your phone as soon as she finds out, just so you know.”

“That’s fine,” Harper nodded easily. “I can handle it.”

“And, I guess,” Tommy sighed. “I’m gonna have to give Willa the cover story right away - I think we just stick to what I said. You guys have been hooking up this whole time, you were at the clubhouse last night together - everyone saw that, so there are plenty of witnesses who can back that up that if we need it - and last night in Jax’s dorm, you guys decided to get married, so today you’re running off to do it in Reno. How’s that sound?”

There were probably some other really important details they were missing, and that the ATF were probably going to ask, like  _ how  _ they started hooking up in the first place, and  _ how  _ the idea of marriage came up and why they both “wanted” to do it, but they also had a six-hour roundtrip drive ahead of them. All those details could be worked out then. For now, they just needed to get on the road before Jax and Tommy changed their minds.

Finally, Jax’s deep, surprisingly even voice called out: “That’s fine, bro. We can make that work, but we just gotta get on the road now, a’ight?”

Tommy nodded tightly, and then he clapped his hands on the edge of the truck’s window, dipping his head down in resignation. “Alright. Let me know when you get back.”

“Sounds good, bro.”

Jax didn’t even really give him a chance to respond because he was already rolling up the window, like he didn’t really want to give Tommy the opportunity to change his mind either. And the second Tommy moved away from the truck, Jax shifted the gear into drive, and pulled back out onto the highway.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, with Jax’s iron grip on the steering wheel, and Harper with her eyes straight ahead, unable to bring herself to look at him. She just...didn’t know what to feel right now. Her mind had just gone completely blank, and she couldn’t pick up a real, fully-formed emotion if she tried.

So, all she could do was just slide into old habits of self-preservation and come up with a plan.

“Hey, can I have my phone back?”

Jax turned to her with a frown, but he shifted on the seat so he could grab her phone from his pocket and passed it to her. She didn’t waste any time, and immediately started googling to make sure everything Tommy had just told them about getting married in Reno was actually right. And after scanning a few websites, and coming across the Washoe County Clerk’s page, which covered getting married in Reno, it looked like everything Tommy had told them was true.

All they needed was $60 and a photo ID, and they could walk out of the county clerk’s office with a marriage license in hand.

But then, according to the website, they also needed to have a ceremony performed by a Nevada-certified officiant before they could officially file and process the license. Ew.

And, then she had another terrible, horrible thought.

“You know,” Harper started uneasily, wincing when Jax’s head turned at the sound of her voice. “If we have to make this look real, just in case, shouldn’t we...I don’t know, spend the night in Reno too?”

Jax grimaced, but then schooled his reaction just as quickly, and he cleared his throat before finally replying: “I guess.”

“I mean,” Harper shrugged helplessly. “If this is supposed to look real, wouldn’t it seem weird to the ATF, and anyone else, if we  _ didn’t  _ get a hotel room? They’d be able to pull up the records pretty easily if they really dug into it, so maybe one of us should have a room on a credit card that could be traced back to us, right?”

He considered that for a moment with his eyes still locked on the room, and then, when he glanced at her, he lifted his eyebrows in amusement with a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. “You mean to tell me you  _ still  _ have a credit card in your name? And if that’s true, who’s paying the bill, princess? ‘Cuz it’s definitely not you.”

Harper just rolled her eyes at him, bristling a little when he just huffed out a laugh. “Okay,  _ fine.  _ Maybe we have to put the hotel room on  _ your  _ card then.”

“Uh huh,” he grinned back at her. “That’s what I thought. And...I hear what you’re sayin’, and I guess that makes sense. Might as well make it look as real as we can. But, hey, if we’re crashin’ in Reno for the night, maybe we should...I don’t know make a few pit-stops first? Don’t you need, like, some girl shit? And I gotta pick up my meds.”

He must’ve seen the way her eyebrows lifted in surprise because he shot her a wary glance.

“I got a heart condition,” he explained quietly. “Same one as Tommy.”

It was right on the tip of her tongue to make some easy joke about the irony of  _ him  _ having a  _ heart  _ condition, but the words died on her lips. That joke wouldn’t be very funny, especially since it looked like he actually  _ did  _ have a heart. Or, at the very least, a conscience. Which was a lot more than she could say for his little brother. Right now, it made more sense that Tommy was really the one with the heart problem, and not Jax.

But she brushed all that aside with an easy nod. “Okay. I wouldn’t mind grabbing a couple things from my parents’ house if we’re not coming back until tomorrow.”

He blew out a sigh, and a few minutes later, he took a turn to take them off the highway and head back to Charming. But the deeper they got into town, the more she realized that they weren’t headed back to the clubhouse, or even her parents’ house for that matter. And when Jax pulled into the driveway of a tan, ranch-style house that looked like it had seen better days, her suspicions were confirmed.

“I thought you said you were never -”

“I got a few pills around the house I can grab,” he cut in quietly. “Some clothes too. I can’t take you back to the clubhouse, at least not until we got all the paperwork done,” and then he gestured with his head toward the house, “Come on then. You’re comin’ with me.”

There were more questions on the tip of her tongue, but she wasn’t stupid enough to ask them. Besides, she had a pretty good feeling that she already knew the answers anyway. He couldn’t take her back to the clubhouse just yet because he didn’t necessarily trust anyone there not to grab her and take her out back before he could stop them - or maybe he didn’t necessarily trust  _ himself  _ either. And he wanted her to come inside his house with him right now because he needed to keep her close to make sure no one from the club showed up, or to make sure she didn’t run. Maybe it was all of those things and then some.

But she did what he needed her to do - who was she to argue with him right now anyway - and got out of the truck to follow him inside the house. She hovered inside the front entryway as he stalked down a hallway to the right, suddenly feeling incredibly out of place and incredibly uncomfortable standing in his house like this. Finally, with nothing else to do, her eyes scanned the living room in front of her, taking quick stock of the white, bare walls, the brown couch that looked like it had never been sat in, the flat screen TV mounted on the wall, the square coffee table sitting in front of the couch, littered with a stale pizza box and empty beer bottles.

It wasn’t  _ quite  _ as bad as what she’d pictured, but it still wasn’t very  _ much  _ either. Like the person who owned this house didn’t really care if there were any personal touches anywhere, or if there was just about anything anywhere. He really hadn’t been kidding when he said he was never here.

She could hear Jax rummaging around in one of the bedrooms, and then he materialized in the hallway a few moments later with a bag slung over his shoulder. He tipped his chin to her with a half a smile curved up his handsome face, and for just a moment, a pang of... _ something  _ hit her right in the stomach. But she shook it off just as quickly, giving him her own half-hearted smile in return and followed him back out to the truck.

When they got to her parents’ house, they just followed the same routine. Jax followed her inside, always right on her heels, but he kept his distance when she opened her bedroom door, choosing instead to linger in the doorway while she threw a change of clothes and a few other things she needed into a bag. And then she had another thought...she definitely didn’t  _ like  _ it, but for believability’s sake, it sorta felt like she  _ had  _ to.

Before she could stop herself, she moved to shut the door, gesturing for Jax to get out of the way.

“I need to change,” she muttered.

After she shut the door in his face, she blew out a long, slow breath. She could do this.  _ They  _ could do this - if Jax was willing to go through with this, if he was willing to actually go this far, then she had to go this far too. There really weren’t any other good choices that actually ended well for her. And with that terrible thought, she tore through her closet for the dress she was looking for and slipped it over her head before she could talk herself out of it.

Against her better judgment, she took one, long hard look in the mirror, and then jumped to the counter to put a little makeup on with trembling fingertips. If she was really going to do this, then she was going to look the part goddammit.

After fixing a little of the pink lipstick that her shaking hands had smudged on her bottom lip, she took in her reflection and nodded in satisfaction. She’d fixed her roots with some dry shampoo, fluffed yesterday’s curls with a little bit of texture spray, and had slapped enough makeup on to cover up the dark circles, spruce up her hazel eyes, and give her cheeks a little bit of color. Add all that to the short, white lace dress she’d pulled out of her closet and she almost looked like a bride.

_ Almost. _

And then with another deep inhale, just so she could maintain her composure, she took one last look in the mirror and then grabbed her overnight bag before opening the bedroom door again. She found Jax leaning a shoulder against the wall with his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the floor. His eyes jerked up when she stepped out into the hallway. Jax’s eyebrows immediately leapt high into his forehead, his mouth quirking up in amusement until he bit down on his bottom lip to mask his reaction.

“If you say  _ anything  _ about the color of my dress,” Harper pointed a finger at him as she stepped closer. “I will hit you.”

His eyes dropped down to the carpet again, but that little smile still hadn’t left his lips as he kicked one of his feet out in front of him. It was gradual, but as they stood there in the hallway in silence, his eyes eventually drifted to her feet, then to her calves, then to the bare skin exposed on her thighs, continuing their inventory of her white dress with lace laid over a sheer cotton base and its matching sleeves that hit tight on her elbow, until his eyes finally swept over her face.

“Well,” he murmured, and pressed a tight smile on his face. “You look nice.”

“Thanks,” she exhaled, with more uneasiness than she would’ve liked, and then she quickly forced a smile on her face too, just because it seemed like the thing to do.

But the longer they stood there, the longer she just couldn’t ignore the whirlwind curling around her feet and wrapping itself around her. And then, before she even knew what was happening, she lurched forward, wrapped her arms around his waist, and leaned into his chest.

Jax stiffened underneath her touch, but then a moment later, his arm slid around her back to pull her even tighter against him. Harper squeezed her eyes shut, burying her face in his shoulder, and just let the comfort and the safety she was in right now sweep her away for the time being.

“Thank you, Jax,” she whispered against his leather kutte. “You’re saving my -”

“Hey,” he pulled back just a little bit, cutting off what they both knew she was about to say, and rested a ringed hand on her shoulder with a grim smile. “We should probably hit the road.”

“Right,” she murmured with a nod. “Oh, wait - before I forget…”

She trailed off, stepping around him in the hallway, knowing he’d be right on her heels just like he was before, and headed for the spare bedroom where her parents kept their safe. She swooped down, punching in the code, and grabbed one of the little stacks of cash her parents had kept there for safe keeping, and tossed it into her overnight bag.

“I figured I should contribute something,” she explained with a shrug. “That way you don’t have to pay for everything, right?”

Jax eyed her with that amused smirk playing on his lips again as he shoved his hands deep inside his pockets. “I thought we needed everything to be traceable?”

“Well, I guess that cash is yours then.”

“Harper, you don’t have to pay me to -”

“That’s not what this is, Jax,” she cut him off softly. “I don’t expect anything from you, okay?  _ Anything _ . What you’re doing for me...that’s more than I could’ve ever asked for, let alone expected from you, given everything that’s happened in the last 12 hours or so. The last thing I want is for you to think I’m trying to take advantage of you or something.”

“I get it,” he just lifted a shoulder, a ghost of a smile lifting his lips. “And I don’t expect anything from you either, just so you know.”

“I’d hope not,” Harper just laughed, and she hadn’t realized just how grateful she was to him, just how goddamn thankful she was for  _ him,  _ until his lips curled up into a knowing grin.

He tipped his chin to her in amusement, rocking back on his heels for a few quiet moments, before he gestured with his head toward the hallway.

“Well,” Jax shrugged. “We doin’ this or what?”

* * *

Right around the time Jax pulled back out onto the hallway, Harper took it upon herself to play with the radio in the truck. She fiddled with the radio for a little too long, flipping through every station, pausing when she hit a new one to listen, and then moved on when she deemed it unworthy, much to his chagrin.

“Jesus,” he muttered under his breath. “Just pick a station.”

Harper shot him a bemused grin, popping an eyebrow at him as she just went back to the matter at hand, and turned the station again, and then again until her lips curved into a surprised smile. “Oh! I love this song!”

He shook his head, huffing out a laugh, but since he had nothing better to do and he was basically a captive audience, he cocked his head to the side to listen - he knew he’d heard this song before, but it was an oldies version of a song he’d thought was  _ really  _ from the 80s.

_ And so we’re running just as fast as we can/ _ _ Holdin’ on to one another’s hand/ _ _ Tryin’ to get away into the night _

“I thought this song was sung by a chick,” Jax offered lightly.

“No,” Harper just laughed. “This is Tommy James and the Shondells, not stupid Tiffany.”

Jax’s head whipped around to face her. “And  _ how  _ do you know that?”

“What?” she shrugged, bopping her shoulders to the beat as she sung along, “ _ I think we’re alone now, there doesn’t seem to be anyone around, I think we’re alone now, the beating of our hearts is the only sound.” _

“I effing  _ love  _ oldies music, and they’re one of my favorites,” Harper explained when Jax could only gape at her in surprise. “They happen to sing my all-time favorite song, you know.”

“Oh yeah?” he grinned back at her. “And what’s that?”

“ _ Crimson and Clover _ ,” she told him with a smug grin. “Everybody knows  _ that  _ song at least.”

“Huh,” Jax lifted his eyebrows in surprise as his eyes drifted back to the road ahead of them. He hadn’t necessarily been expecting any of this, but then again, he never really knew what to expect when he was around her anyway. 

“But I bet you’d know some more songs by them if you heard ‘em,” Harper went on with a grin. “ _ Mony Mony _ ?  _ Hanky Panky _ ?  _ Good Lovin’ _ ?  _ Draggin’ the Line _ ? Come on, at least a  _ couple  _ of those gotta ring a bell. They also have a pretty cool version of  _ Shout  _ too.”

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye in amusement. “Alright, alright. Maybe I have heard of a few of those. I just figured you listened to...I don’t know, Katy Perry or Ariana Grande on repeat or some shit like that.”

“That’s nice,” she shot back wryly. “And you listen to what, Guns ‘N Roses and Poison nonstop?”

“Actually, I’m more of a Limp Bizkit and an Incubus guy,” he laughed.

“Of  _ course _ you are,” Harper muttered under her breath. “Why am I not surprised?”

“To be fair,” he grinned. “I’m also a Beatles and a Led Zeppelin guy.”

“Well, thank God for that.”

He was still laughing when his prepay buzzed in his kutte, and he dipped his hand inside to slip his prepay out, seeing a text waiting for him from Tommy.

_ Arch of Reno Chapel, need an appt tho I think so call ahead. Mom knows but I talked her out of calling u for now, fyi. Talking to Willa asap. _

Well, that was almost enough to darken a light mood. He blew out a heavy sigh, and glanced at Harper, “Tommy says we should head to the Arch of Reno Chapel, I guess. He thinks we need an appointment though.”

Harper nodded tightly, some resignation and a little bit of weariness crossed her face, but she got to work, her fingers flying over the screen on her phone before she tapped on the screen and then brought the phone to her ear.

“Yeah, hi,” Harper was saying into her phone now. “I need to make an appointment for today...right, for  _ that _ . Um, no...oh okay, thanks. No, I don’t want to make an appointment for tomorrow, thanks though. Bye.”

She blew out a deep breath before glancing at him with a shrug. Neither of them really needed to say all that much, and she turned her attention back to her phone as she scrolled through some website.

“You know, this Arch of Reno place looks  _ exactly  _ like the kinda place Willa would pick to run off and get married in,” Harper mused with a light laugh. “I’d show you the pictures, but you’re driving and I’d rather not die in a fiery wreck today.”

He couldn’t help but let an easy grin slip across his mouth. It was just sorta that easy with her anyway. “I guess it’s a good thing it sounds like they’re all booked up for today, huh?”

“Oh yeah.  _ Totally _ . It just looks...boring. Not very interesting, that’s for sure. And you know, the chapel  _ also  _ looks a little too much like a funeral parlor, if you know what I mean.”

“Got it,” he laughed. “I guess we dodged a bullet then.”

He stilled the second those words dropped out of his mouth, chewing on his bottom lip absentmindedly and feeling a little like he was better off just not saying anything again for a long fucking time. Because what he’d just said had been pretty damn stupid and a little callous, too, if he was really being honest. But then Harper’s melodic, easy laugh filled the truck and he had to shake his head.

“I suppose,” she was looking down at her phone now, scrolling down until she stopped short. “Oh, this place looks nice actually. You can get your picture in front of a cute little RV and everything! It’s called The Hytch, and they do pop-up weddings and elopements...that sounds about right, I guess.”

His jaw ticked around a bemused grin, and he found himself shaking his head at her again. At least, if this was what they  _ had  _ to do, she was being pretty open-minded about the whole thing. He’d also expected her to fight him on this a little bit more, but then again, they’d already established a long time ago that she was anything but stupid, and she’d grasped the severity of their predicament quicker than he’d hoped.

“Oh, and you can have the ceremony out in the woods or at this garden place. That looks kinda nice actually,” she went on, and he found himself grinning at her again. “Four  _ hundred  _ dollars? No. Just... _ no _ . Okay, moving on,” she huffed out a laugh, and continued her scrolling until she froze, and then her hand shot out to grip his arm, “ _ Wait.  _ Oh my God, Jax, this place is  _ perfect.  _ It’s like...the worst thing I’ve ever seen. They have a  _ Lonesome Dove- _ themed chapel with effing  _ wagon  _ wheels on the altar. Oh my God, it’s like Texas threw up all over the place or something. Oh, look, and it’s only  _ 85  _ dollars.  _ Perfect _ .”

Without another word, she tapped her screen and brought her phone up to her ear, shooting him an evil grin in the process.

“Yes,  _ hi _ ,” she practically cackled. “I’d like to make an appointment for today...oh, perfect. Well, we’d  _ really  _ like the Lonesome Dove setting,” she glanced at him again with a sly grin, “Uh huh. Yeah, we know where to go for the license and everything...no, we don’t need a limo...why would I want a  _ silk  _ bouquet? That sounds terrible. Five o’clock?” her head turned to him again to check on that time with him.

Jax glanced at the clock in the truck, waffling a little on how much time they actually needed. It was almost noon now, but they still had about a two and half hour drive left, and they still had to get the paperwork at the county clerk’s office, and they probably needed to make sure they had enough time to do that in case there was a line or something.

Not to mention the fact that he was fucking starving and if he didn’t get some caffeine soon he just might pass out on the steering wheel.

“How ‘bout six or seven?” he threw out. “Just to be safe?”

Harper nodded immediately, turning her attention back to her phone conversation. “Could you make six or seven work? Okay, yeah, we can do six. And can I have the name of the officiant, please? Alright...” she trailed off, digging into her purse for pen and scribbling something on her palm, “Thank you. Um,” she glanced at him a little sheepishly now, “Jax Teller and Harper Sullivan. Right...okay, see you then. Bye.”

Then she swiped across her screen again and nodded, probably more to herself than anything, and then her fingers flew across the screen again to look something else up as she glanced at the name she’d written on her palm.

“Alright,” she told him with a grin. “We’re all set for six o’clock at the Antique Angel Chapel.”

“The _ Antique Angel _ Chapel?” he laughed. “Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Hey,” she just shrugged. “I figured if we have to do this, we might as well have some fun with it, right?”

He eyed her warily. “I guess.”

“And…” she glanced at her screen again, nodding to herself again. “I just looked up the officiant on the Nevada registry and she _is_ a state-certified officiant. So that’s good. Can you imagine if we went through all this, only to find out after the fact that we got scammed by some third-rate wedding chapel in Reno?”

All he could do was laugh. The irony of that - if they’d fallen into that trap - would’ve been too good and too perfect, and probably just what he would’ve deserved. Leave it to her to make sure they actually knew what they were doing though.

“Well, princess,” he tossed out lightly. “I don’t really see you bein’ the type of girl who’s on the wrong side of a con anytime soon.”

“Thank you,” she chirped happily. “That’s a huge compliment, actually.”

“I bet it is,” he laughed.”

“You know,” Harper went on, as she scrolled through the chapel’s website again on her phone. “This is kinda like that time I got into the Warwick a couple years ago - I _thought_ Leo was gonna be there, but all I got was Tobey Maguire and Kevin Connelly, and honestly, they were boring as hell, and I was _not_ here for it. I was under the impression that I was gonna be rubbing elbows with Leo DiCaprio, and you know, the pussy posse thing is a _real_ thing. I thought that was just, like, a Hollywood myth or something but it is very, _very_ real and it is very, _very_ gross.”

He narrowed his eyes playfully at her, twisting his hands around the steering wheel again in thought. “Pussy posse, huh? Sounds like somethin’ I’d be into.”

“Sure,” she just rolled her eyes at him. “You mean you actually believe me this time?”

“I don’t know,” he just shrugged. “This one isn’t quite as far-fetched as your other stories. I  _ guess _ , if I’m being forced to go along with it, it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that you ended up at a club in LA where a couple of celebrities happened to be there at the same time. I’m sure that happens every once and awhile.”

“It does,” Harper grinned victoriously. “And anyway, the whole thing ended up being really creepy. Kevin Connelly is, like, three feet tall, and he kept talking about how he used some paychecks from some season of  _ Entourage  _ to buy a house in Malibu, like he was trying to bait me into  _ actually  _ going there with him, like that was something I’d  _ actually  _ be interested in, and it was just...weird and a little bit sad, to say the least.”

“Sounds like it, princess,” Jax shot back with a sly smirk. “Heaven forbid you should somehow be part of anyone’s pussy posse.”

“Yeah, well, it’s just gross, you know? Besides, I’m, like,  _ way  _ too old for them now anyway. They like their girls young, you know? Like,  _ really  _ young.”

“Hmm,” his lips curled into another amused smirk. “And how old are you now if you’re  _ too old  _ to be part of the pussy posse?”

“I’m a spry 29, thank you very much. How old are  _ you _ ? And stop saying  _ pussy posse _ . It’s weird, Jax.”

He just huffed out a laugh. “Alright, fine. I’m 33.”

“Ah,” she nodded with some finality that surprised him. “I knew you were an old man. Makes sense. Seeing as how you’re all grumpy all the time and everything.”

“Okay, fine,” he allowed. “But what in the fuck does any of this have to do with that place we’re headed to in Reno?”

“Well,” she huffed exasperatedly. “I was  _ going  _ to say it’s the A team and the B team, right? That Hytch place would’ve been  _ awesome  _ if it wasn’t so expensive for our purposes, and now we have to settle for second best, a Lonesome Dove-themed chapel with Southwestern rugs covering the carpet and wagon wheels nailed into the walls. Sorta like how I  _ thought  _ I was gonna be meeting Leo that night, but instead I had to settle for his B team friends. Which ended up being weird and creepy and sad.”

“Sure,” he lifted his eyebrows in amusement. “But if Leo  _ had  _ been there, you totally would’ve been part of the pussy posse, right?”

“Oh, in a heartbeat.”

Now, his shoulders were shaking with laughter, and he had to shake his head at her too. This girl was really something else. And she was  _ fun  _ too. More fun in ways he hadn’t expected.

“I don’t know,” he told her now with a sly grin. “It sounds like you’re a little bit of a celebrity snob, huh? Only  _ certain  _ celebrities are good enough?”

“Well,” she tilted her head to the side in thought. “I guess it’s not as bad as the time I kinda, sorta accidentally auditioned to be Danny Masterson’s girlfriend at the Scientology Center,” she threw her hands up in the air when his shoulders shook with laughter, “In my defense, I didn’t  _ know  _ it was an audition. I thought it was a party, okay?  _ And _ , that was long before he got arrested, just so you know. I guess, looking back at it, I probably should’ve known that anything that happened at the Scientology Center was bad, bad news, but my curiosity got the better of me.”

_ Yeah _ , he thought wryly,  _ that seemed to happen to her a lot _ .

“That place is hard to get into though, you know?” Harper went on with an easy shrug. “And I wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to see the inside of it without having to pay, like a million dollars to get audited or whatever it’s called.”

“And what was the inside of that place like?”

“It was boring,” she shrugged again. “Like one of those non-denominational churches, you know? Just culty enough to reel you in and just churchy enough to convince you it  _ could  _ be real. Still, you’d think with all the celebrities they’ve got throwing money around in there that they’d update the decor or something. But, that being said, it  _ was  _ a pretty prime location to lift some wallets and dip into some purses though.”

“You  _ are  _ a pickpocket, aren’t you?” his head whipped around to face her with a smug grin, and he lifted a hand off the steering wheel to jab a finger at her. “I fuckin’ knew it, princess. I  _ fuckin’ _ knew it.”

“Whatever,” Harper just shrugged. “It’s a skill that’s taken a lot of time and practice, okay? Besides, super religious people also tend to be super gullible. So sue me for not feeling that guilty about it.”

“Alright,” his lips quirked up with amusement. “I guess I can let that one slide. You know, my dad actually used to boost some cars here and there back in the old days. I think it was more about seein’ if he could get away with it than anything, but I remember my mom saying that sometimes he’d roll up to the house in some random car or truck and then the next day, it would just be gone. She still isn’t really sure what he was doin’ with them though.”

“Probably selling the parts,” Harper lifted a shoulder. “That’s what I would do.”

He flashed her a wide grin. “I’m sure you would, princess.”

And then, he had a fleeting, crazy thought that his dad would probably really get a kick out of Harper. JT would probably be just as fascinated by all her stories as he was, except JT might actually  _ believe  _ most of them though.

“So...your dad is the one who started the club, right?” Harper asked, glancing over at him hesitantly, like she wasn’t quite sure if this was an acceptable topic to talk about.

“Right,” he nodded to her easily. “He was in ‘Nam with another one of our brothers who’s still hangin’ on by an oxygen tank, and when they got home, I think they just sort of were wandering around aimlessly without much of a purpose or much of a direction, and then they started the club together as a way to...I don’t know, get the brotherhood back that they had in ‘Nam.”

“Hmm,” Harper mused, tilting her head to the side as she regarded him thoughtfully. “So, if he was the president and you’re the _vice_ president now, does that mean you’re going to be _the_ president at some point?”

Jax just huffed out a laugh at the pointed question. She had to at least have a pretty good idea of what she was really asking him - and had to know that the only real way he could ever be president was if Clay wasn’t in the picture somehow.

“I’m not sayin’ that’s  _ not  _ somethin’ I want at some point,” he allowed. “It’s just not somethin’ I want  _ right now _ . Not with the way shit’s goin’ in the club. But I think about it a lot, you know? I think about what my dad would say about all this all the time, and I think he’s gotta be rolling over in his grave with the shit Clay has done and the ways he’s been runnin’ us into the ground. I think I’d rather fuckin’ go nomad at this point than do just about anything else.”

“What does that mean?” she frowned.

“Going nomad?” he waited long enough to see her nod, and his lips quirked up a little when he realized she wasn’t just making conversation - she genuinely seemed interested in all this right now. “It means I wouldn’t be affiliated with any specific charter - we’ve got charters all over the country and Samcro is the mother charter of all that, but going nomad means I’m not really connected to any of them. The club would have to vote on it, but I’d give up my VP patch and I’d just be on my own.”

He paused there to see if all that was really making sense to her, and when he saw her studying him carefully, he pressed on.

“And, I guess, if I  _ did  _ choose to go nomad, I’d think you would probably have to come with me,” he lifted a shoulder. Even though, as he said the words out loud, the weight of them wasn’t lost on him. “Right about now, I don’t really trust many of my club brothers, especially Clay, to honor what we’re about to do today if I wasn’t in town. The only way I’d really be able to make sure you were protected was if you came with me.”

Her eyes, which looked a little more blue now than green, appraised him carefully, and then her mouth curled into a lop-sided grin up one side of her face. “Okay. I guess that makes sense. But just as long as wherever we went had things like, running water and electricity and a toilet and a shower and two beds and -”

“I get it, princess,” he chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure all those boxes are checked for you when or if that ever happens.”

“Good.”

And it was right about now that he just needed a mental break from all this. Luckily enough, they were just about to come up to an exit that had a gas station and some food, where he could presumably get some caffeine. So, without another word between them, he took the exit and took the break for as long as he could.

***

About ten minutes later, after he sent Harper in to grab some food and some coffee for them, he stood outside by the truck as he filled the gas tank with his hands shoved deep inside his pockets. This just all felt so surreal. They were really here. They were really doing this. And now, they had about an hour to go and they’d be pulling into the courthouse to see the county clerk.

He swallowed hard at that thought. Some movement from inside the gas station caught his eye - and he just couldn’t help himself. He tilted his head a little to the side as his eyes followed the top of Harper’s head while she moved around the gas station, and he bit back a grin when he realized she was chatting up the clerk behind the counter like they were long-lost best friends or something.

And on that note, almost as if the woman could read his thoughts, his prepay started buzzing inside his kutte. He pulled it out, glancing at the caller ID with an eye roll, and finally snapped it open.

“Hello?”

“Jackson.”

His eyes lifted to the sky again in exasperation. “Hi.”

“So, if I understand your brother correctly, this is the second time a son of mine is headed to Reno, without me, with a girl, so he can come back married?”

“Ma, it’s not -”

“No, I know exactly what’s happening here. Tommy brought me up to speed on everything and I get it. I really do. Sure, it shocked the hell outta me. Maybe gave me a little bit of a heart attack, but...I don’t know, Jax. You’ve always had a big heart, and this is no exception. I’m kinda proud of you, baby.”

“Aw, come on, Ma.”

“No, I mean it. I  _ like  _ her. You know? And the last thing I want is for the club to find itself in another situation like...this is a hard call, but I think you’re making the right one, Jax - for both of you.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“Hey, I just wanted to make sure my position was clear here,” Gemma laughed. “When you two headed back to town then?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Oh,” he could hear the smug air in her voice through the phone. “So you’re plannin’ on a wedding  _ night _ in Reno too?”

“Mom, it’s not -”

“No, I get it. I get it,” Gemma cut in quickly. “I really do understand what’s happening here, trust me, I really do. But I’m just gonna throw it out there...and don’t take this the wrong way, Jackson - but you’re tying yourself to a good girl here and one who I think would be good for  _ you  _ too. Would it be so terrible if...I don’t know, you came back to town with an  _ actual  _ wife?”

Jax pushed out a rough sigh, wincing a little when Harper pushed through the gas station’s door to head back toward the truck, balancing two coffees and a plastic grocery bag in one hand, while she tucked her phone under her shoulder, speaking into it with an exasperated expression on her face.

“Mom, don’t make this into somethin’ that it’s not, okay? This isn’t about anything but doin’ the right thing and keepin’ her in one piece. That’s it, Ma. That’s fuckin’ it.”

“I know, I know,” Gemma shot back quickly. “I guess I’ll just have to get over the fact that  _ both  _ my sons froze me out of their weddings.”

“Alright. Whatever,” he sighed as he tore a hand through his hair, needing to wrap this up because Harper was about three feet away from him now. “I gotta get back on the road. We’ve got about an hour left to drive and we just need to get goin’. I’ll call you when we’re back in town.”

“Okay, baby. Good luck with everything. I love you.”

“Love you too, Ma.”

He snapped his prepay shut and threw it back inside his kutte just in time for Harper to step around the side of the truck, with her phone still pressed against her ear.

“I know, Will,” she was saying, and when they made eye contact, she just rolled her eyes at him as she handed him one of the coffees, and then the plastic bag in her hand. “I promise, everything is fine.  _ I’m  _ fine. Jax is fine. We’re both fine. We can talk about this more when we get back, but we need to get back on the road now, okay? Sure...I’ll let you know when we’re back...yeah, tomorrow. Okay, Will. Love you too.”

She shook her head as she swiped across her screen to end the call and tossed her phone back inside her purse. Then her eyes drifted up to him with a deep exhale and a hand on her hip.

“Oh shoot,” she muttered. “That reminds me...I didn’t make a hotel reservation yet,” and then she smiled sweetly up at him,  _ too  _ sweetly to really be that genuine, and held out a hand, wiggling her fingers at him. “Credit card, please,  _ honey _ .”

It took him a moment to really react and wrap his head around all that at once, but he chose to just lean into the ridiculousness of all this. Like she’d said before, they might as well just have some fun with it. What else were they supposed to do?

So, he dug his hand in his back pocket for his wallet with his free hand and tossed it to her. “Here,  _ babe _ . You might as well take the whole damn thing. It’s basically yours anyway now, right?”

She laughed at him, a real, genuine laugh, and he couldn’t help but grin back at her, feeling a tug of warmth and something else he didn’t really want to linger on for too long. But instead of responding, she just opened his wallet, took out his card, and then got to work making them a hotel reservation.

“I’m gonna get us a hotel that’s on the same street as the chapel,” she murmured to him, shifting her phone against her ear so she could talk to him.

“Whatever you want,” he just shrugged.

He waited, leaning against the passenger side door as he listened to her make the hotel reservation, and laughing a little when she glanced up to him hesitantly and specified they probably needed a  _ king _ , not a double queen room, and at this point, why not? If the ATF were going to snoop into any of this, and he was sure they would, they might as well just dig their heels in and go for it.

After their reservation was made, she tossed her phone back into her purse and took a sip from her to-go coffee cup, squeezing her eyes shut at the hit of caffeine, and then he found himself mimicking her movements, taking a drink of his own coffee and immediately feeling like he could catch his second wind now. All he needed was some food, and to finish this coffee, and he’d be able to get them to the first leg of their trip.

And because he just couldn’t help himself, he swept the passenger side door open, sweeping his free hand in front of him with a wide, playful grin. “Come on, princess. We got some important places to be and we gotta get on the road.”

She met that challenge, taking his hand like a snobby little princess might and hopped back into the truck.

Once they were back on the highway, he downed half his coffee as fast as he could just to wake himself up some more, and then got to work on the sandwich she’d gotten him from the gas station. And just like that, some caffeine and some food was really all it took to grab hold of that elusive second wind. He dug into the inside pocket of his kutte for his cigarette pack and his lighter, fumbling with the trigger on his lighter a little as he balanced the wheel and the lighter, until Harper swooped in from his right and put a hand on the wheel to steady it while he got his cigarette lit.

“Thanks,  _ babe _ ,” he shot her a side-eyed grin as he tossed her his cigarettes and his lighter and then cracked his window open. “I appreciate the assist.”

“Oh, that’s what I’m here for.”

It was right about then that, while she lit up her own cigarette, that old familiar pang shot through his chest, and he rubbed absentmindedly at the spot right above his heart that hurt. Then he swore under his breath, remembering he  _ still  _ hadn’t taken his meds.

He tipped his chin to Harper as he took another long pull from his cigarette, and gestured to his overnight bag that he’d tossed by her feet before they left town. “Hey, babe, can you grab my pills in my bag? I really shouldn’t put off takin’ them any longer today if I can help it.”

Another sharp pang shot through his chest and he winced through it, rubbing that spot again and putting some pressure on his chest over his heart to alleviate some of the dull ache. Her eyes widened when she realized he was in real, actual pain right now, and she started digging through the bag until she unearthed the orange pill bottle he’d tossed in there. He took the bottle from her, unscrewing the top, and shook two pills from the bottle before tossing them into his mouth and washing them down with some coffee.

When he dared a glance her way, he found Harper watching him with careful eyes - that looked more green now than blue - and a little bit of worry seemed to creep through them now too.

“Heart defect,” he explained quietly. “I was born with it. Runs in the family too. My mom’s got it. Tommy’s got it. Tommy actually barely made it past 12 - he was in the hospital for a few months and for awhile, it sorta looked like he wasn’t gonna make it, but he pulled through. And we’re all still here.”

“As long as you take your medicine, right?” she smiled softly.

“Right,” he huffed out a laugh. “Takin’ my meds is basically what keeps me alive and keeps me from havin’ a heart attack or some shit like that.”

“Do you forget to take your pills a lot?”

“I try not to,” Jax shrugged a little too easily, given their current topic of conversation. “It’s not recommended to forget your pills when you have a hole in your heart.”

When her eyes widened, he laughed again, shaking his head as he jumped to explain, “I had surgery when I was born to fix the hole - so, I guess, I don’t really have a hole in my heart  _ anymore _ . But the meds keep my ticker tickin’, and they help keep my heart strong, apparently, which I guess is always a good thing.”

“I’d say,” and then she gestured to the cigarette in his hand, “and I guess  _ that  _ probably doesn’t help though, right?”

“No,” he chuckled. “I guess it doesn’t. The doc says I gotta quit drinking too, but I haven’t really gotten around to that yet either.”

“Why not?”

He just shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe I’m just lazy?”

“Or maybe you don’t care whether you live or die so much?” Harper huffed a little, glancing down at the cigarette in her own hand, and then, after one last drag, flicked it out the window. 

“Yeah, well,” he murmured, glancing down at the cigarette in his hand too before he took another drag. “I guess it’s been hard to come up with a reason to really care that much lately, you know what I mean?”

She glanced at him warily. “That’s kinda dark, Jax.”

“Well, if the shoe fits or some shit like that,” and then, he shot her a quick grin as he changed the subject, “So...you lived in LA, but you haven’t really had an actual address in awhile? Why is that? Apartments too expensive in LA and you couldn’t find some unsuspecting stock broker or somethin’ to foot the bill?”

“First of all,” she narrowed her eyes at him playfully. “How did you know about the address thing?”

“Background check,  _ babe _ .”

“Ah,” Harper’s melodic laugh filled the truck again and he found himself smiling at the sound. “I see,  _ honey _ . Well, if you must know, I’ve gotten by with a PO box, and that usually gave me some leeway in case I decided to just leave town for a while, you know? If I had a lease somewhere, or, at least a lease I was  _ responsible  _ for somewhere, it would be hard to get up and leave whenever I wanted.”

Sure. But she still hadn’t really answered his question. That was also something she seemed to have a knack for when it suited her.

“So where in the world have you been?”

Now, she lifted an eyebrow at him in amusement. “Oh, so you believe me now?”

“I never said that,” he chuckled, feeling his heart clench a little when he saw the road marker up ahead letting them know they had 30 miles to Reno. “I’m just curious how quick you can think on your feet is all.”

“Oh boy,” she rolled her eyes at him, and then took another sip from her coffee cup. “Clearly, anything I say you’re not gonna believe, so what’s the point?”

“I’ve believed a  _ little  _ of it. Like the pussy posse thing. I believed that one.”

Harper huffed exasperatedly and wagged a finger at him. “I think you just like saying pussy posse, even though I specifically asked you  _ not  _ to.”

“Oh well, babe,” he laughed. “Can’t help it if the pussy posse is just wildly interesting to me. ‘Cuz I’m pretty sure, if I’m understanding it right, that it’s a lot like the set-up we got at the clubhouse. Girls just kinda sittin’ around, waitin’ for their turn or somethin’ like that.”

“Ew,” Harper grimaced and shook her head. “Just  _ ew.” _

“That’s a little hypocritical, don’t ya think? ‘Cuz if I remember right, I’m pretty damn sure you would’ve volunteered for the pussy posse, had the right guy been there that night.”

“Well, honey,” her lips pulled apart into an exaggerated grimace. “I’m not gonna be part of anyone’s pussy posse _anywhere_ , and especially not at the clubhouse, if we’re even using that term right, and I’m not entirely sure that we are.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” he threw out lightly. “I wouldn’t  _ let  _ you be part of anyone’s pussy posse in the clubhouse, if we’re even using that term right, and I’m not entirely sure that we are.”

Her head turned to face him at that, and for a split second, he wasn’t quite sure what he’d even just said - let alone what he’d even really meant by that. But luckily enough, Harper’s lips just quirked into a smile, and he decided to blame it on his lack of sleep.

“ _ Anyway _ ,” she grinned at him slyly. “If you’re asking where in the world I’ve been and all that...I don’t know, that’s kind of a loaded question. I guess I don’t...well, I never really have a plan, you know? I just sort of  _ do  _ things without really thinking them through all the way before I do them. Willa says it’s just because I don’t want to stay in one place long enough to get close to anyone, but I don’t know. I like to think I stick around long enough to get a feel for what I’m working with and when I’ve seen enough, I move on.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad to me,” he mused with a nod. “It’s not the worst thing in the world not to be tied to one particular place for any particular length of time.”

“I guess that’s not true anymore though, right?” Harper shrugged. “I’ve been sort of  _ forced  _ to put down roots whether I like it or not lately. And now, with this...I need to stick around for awhile.”

His jaw worked around that for a moment, and he chewed on it, turning it over and over again, but for the life of him, he just didn’t know what to say.

“Yeah, I guess.”

That was the best he could do.

And then her head turned to him again, and he thoughtlessly, almost recklessly, turned to face her. He let himself have a moment to take her in, to let his eyes sweep over her there, sitting in the passenger seat of this old, rusty T-M truck in her lacy white dress, with her curly hair and just a hint of pink on her cheeks and on her lips - even though most of her lipstick was on her coffee cup now - and he fleetingly wondered what that lipstick tasted like, what  _ she  _ might taste like, when they got to the part later today where he’d probably have to kiss her.

His heart pounded against his leather kutte at the thought, but he shoved that down.

How fucking crazy was this? Not even two days ago, he was sitting here, thinking this girl was a psychopathic con artist who’d done nothing but lie to him left and right, and maybe those things were still true, but now, with her sitting here next to him in this truck, only two feet away in that white dress, looking so damn pretty and even a little bit sweet, it was hard to separate what was real and what was an act right now.

The last thing either of them needed to do was complicate this shit. It was already complicated enough, and letting himself get swept away in the lie, and in the act they’d have to put on, wasn’t going to do either of them any favors in the long run.

So, he shook it off, and shifted his focus back on the road. They got through the rest of their drive on small talk, and Harper flipping through the radio again until she settled on yet another oldies station so she could softly sing along to songs like “Sugar Sugar” and “The Twist,” with her gaze facing firmly on the window next to her, rather anywhere near him.

But when he pulled into a parking spot by the Washoe County courthouse, that familiar pang shot through his chest, only this time, he had a pretty good feeling he couldn’t blame that on his heart condition. They sat there silently in the truck, with his hands twisting around the wheel anxiously and just as aimlessly, until her quiet voice called out to him.

“Jax?”

“Yeah, princess?”

“We don’t have to do this.”

His chest twisted violently in his chest, and his gaze shifted to find her staring back at him with quiet resolve. “Harper, that’s not -”

“No, Jax, I’m serious. We don’t have to do this,” she shook her head, and then swallowed tightly. “I’ve...I’ve got some cash. I’ve got a change of clothes in my bag and some other things that’ll get me by for awhile. I just ate and had some coffee not that long ago, so I’m good that way too for now. Just...just let me go. It’s really okay, Jax. You’ve done more than enough already.”

He sucked in a shaky breath, and he bit down on his bottom lip so hard he tasted blood. The fucking determination and the strength and the tenacity in her voice right now...he had to swallow back the lump in his throat in case he actually found the right words to say.

“You can just tell them I got away when we stopped for gas or something. I’d  _ really  _ appreciate it if you left me this truck, but I get it if you can’t and I guess I probably shouldn’t be driving around in a sorta stolen truck that says Teller-Morrow on it, huh? That wouldn’t get me very far.”

Jax huffed out a bitter laugh, but he just couldn’t bring himself to look at her again right now.

“You gave me a head start, Jax,” she told him softly. “And that’s all I can ask for. I’ve had to start over before with less and I can do it again. I can dust off Selena Beverheusen and bring her back to life - although, I guess, now that I’ve  _ told  _ you that, I probably need to think of a different alter ego, even though she’s been my go-to for awhile.”

His lips quirked up at the sides, and he chewed on the smile working its way up the side of his mouth. “Selena Beverheusen, huh?”

“Uh huh,” she grinned bravely, and his heart just about drop-kicked through his chest at the sight. “Selena, after, you know, the immortal Tejano princess, Selena Quintanilla-Perez, and Beverheusen, because, you know, that’s where the beavers live, and also because Karen Walker is an effing  _ queen _ .”

Jax’s eyes fixed on the steering wheel, but, for the life of him, he couldn’t stop the way his mouth curled up at the corners, the way his shoulders shook with laughter, or the way he just shook his head because all that was  _ exactly  _ the kind of thing she’d say in exactly this kind of dire, life-or-death situation.

Because that’s really what it was for her - and, technically, both of them. If he let her go, he was also taking the chance that she wouldn’t go running to the first cop she could find. Not to mention the fact that they were parked in front of a courthouse, and letting her go  _ here  _ of all places probably wouldn’t be the smartest thing he’d ever done, next to shooting an undercover ATF agent and his informant in the head. And if he let her go, they both knew that all he was really doing was giving her a head start, just like she’d said. The second he got back and told them she was gone, the club would start combing the state for her, and then the country if they had to, and they wouldn’t stop until they found her.

But all that shit aside, he just couldn’t stop laughing.

This girl. This crazy, psycho girl, who could make him laugh the way nobody else really could. This crazy, psycho girl who looked so damn pretty in that white dress she’d put on for him. This crazy, psycho girl who had more mettle and more courage than just about anyone he’d ever met in his life.

Maybe he just didn’t want to let her go.

So, the choice was clear. If it had ever really been a choice at all.

He flashed her a quick grin, and then opened the driver’s side door so he could step out onto the parking lot and move around the front of the truck, still grinning when he realized she was just gaping openly at him from where she sat in the truck. Then he pulled open the passenger side door and held a hand out to her with an easy smile.

Right now, this felt like the easiest decision he’d ever made in his life.

“Come on,  _ babe _ ,” he laughed a little at how ridiculous that sounded even to his own ears, and then he gestured with his head toward the courthouse. “Let’s go.”

Her pretty face twisted at his words, her lips parting to suck in a shaky breath, and for just a moment, he could’ve sworn he saw a flash of moisture shining in her green eyes. But she recovered just as quickly, swallowing back whatever emotions had nearly broken through the surface, and she gingerly slid her hand in his to let him pull her out of the truck.

When her heels touched the ground, he grabbed hold of her other hand and squeezed it tight, just to make sure she didn’t make a run for it.

“Hey,” he murmured, feeling his lips curl up again when her eyes darted to him at the sound of his voice. “I told you I wasn’t gonna let anything happen to you, and…” he nodded to her, “this is me not lettin’ anything happen to you.”

She leaned forward until her cheek brushed against the leather covering his chest, and he followed her lead, wrapping his arms around her shoulders to tuck her in closer, relishing the way she felt in his arms more than he had any right to. They stood there in the parking lot for a few moments, taking the time they needed to mentally prepare for what was coming next, with their arms wrapped around each other, and finally, when they were ready, they pulled apart.

Jax tipped his chin to her with a soft smile, and then he just decided to go with it, draping an arm around her shoulder as he led her toward the courthouse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Happy Sunday! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year! This chapter moved a lot of things forward, including what happens when Jax and Harper get each other alone, without anyone else around, and are left to the face with the reality that neither one is quite as bad as the other thought ;)
> 
> The next chapter will show their wedding in Reno!
> 
> Also, just as a quick heads-up, this story is going to end (for now) at chapter ten, when it reaches a pretty natural conclusion, at least in terms of their relationship. There will definitely be some loose ends, for sure, and I left those open purposely so I can come back to this at some point and wrap those things up. But for now, the story kind of runs its course by the end of chapter ten - and in a way I totally hadn't planned! That's been the fun of writing this one though!
> 
> So, when I'm done posting this story at the end of January, my new story will take this Sunday posting slot (I already have six chapters done of that one too!). Anyway, please let me know your thoughts on this one! Thanks, as always, for reading and happy New Year!


	8. Chapter Eight

Harper glanced anxiously around their hotel room, trying to look anywhere but at Jax, who tossed his bag haphazardly on an armchair in the corner, and then slipped his leather kutte off, dropping it on top of his bag. With his hands on his hips, he glanced at her from over his shoulder and shot her a reassuring grin.

“I promise I’ll get my ass back up when you need me to,” he called out softly. With one more quick smile from over his shoulder, he plopped his body down on the king mattress, and punched the pillow under his head a few times before settling back with his eyes closed.

Apparently, he’d gotten absolutely zero sleep last night while she’d been passed out on the floor of his dorm. He’d also driven the last three hours and then stood in line with her for almost an hour a half at the courthouse to get their marriage license. Since they had a good hour before they had to be at the chapel, his request to check into their hotel room so he could take a quick power nap seemed like a pretty reasonable one.

She stood there, in their hotel room, next to the bed where Jax was already quietly snoring, and for the life of her, Harper just couldn’t take her eyes off him. Her head tilted to the side as she studied him, letting her gaze drift up and down the length of him as he slept.

Her lips lifted up at the corners, and the longer she watched him, the longer something foreign tugged at her heart. His legs looked so impossibly long, all kicked out on the mattress like that, covered in baggy jeans that were about two sizes too big, and with the way he’d strewn an arm over his eyes as he slept, his black and blue flannel shirt jostled to the side, revealing a metal SOA belt buckle, the very tip of the waistband on his white boxers, and just a flash of tanned skin. As she tilted her head to the side just a little more, she fleetingly wondered if that flannel covering his chest was actually as soft as it looked and what else she might find underneath it.

But it was his face that reeled her in. Now asleep, his features had softened and relaxed, but he was still just as achingly handsome as he always was. He wasn’t just a hottie boom body - that didn’t even really begin to cover it. He was just...he was just  _ gorgeous _ . And there had been a few times over the last few hours when she’d seen something in his eyes, and in the way they lingered on her hair, on her dress, on her lips, on her legs that warmed her and squeezed her tight. That made her wonder what he was thinking and that also made her focus on the way his lips curved up at her a little bit more than she was used to.

Harper swallowed tightly at that thought.  _ All  _ of those thoughts felt like pretty dangerous ones right about now. Those were exactly the kinds of thoughts that were just going to cause trouble, and she tended to avoid letting herself get carried away in anything like that in the first place. There was no  _ real  _ point in messing around with things like serious feelings and real, actual relationships that meant something true because life was just too short to tie yourself down that way. 

She’d managed to escape by the skin of her teeth plenty of times without falling down that rabbit hole, and it just didn’t make sense to fall down that hole  _ now _ , of all times and with all the men she’d ever been alone with in a hotel room.

Catching feelings was ill-advised, and as far as she was concerned, completely against the rules. At least the rules  _ she  _ lived by.

Harper sucked in a shaky breath as she hurried to the bathroom and shut the door behind her with a soft click. She just didn’t know what was happening right now. Her eyes burned with hot moisture - that was such a foreign feeling, and she couldn’t remember the last thing she’d felt it. And now her throat felt like it was on fire too.

She flipped the faucet on to run the water just in time to muffle one desperate sob. With her head in her hands, she sunk down to the toilet seat, heaving in and out, letting her body just give in, for better or worse.

She could’ve died today.

She probably  _ should’ve  _ died today.

Those men out at the end of that long, dirt road - they all would’ve taken a turn shooting her in the head and then dumped her body in a shallow, unmarked grave. Maybe she would’ve had it coming because that was what she got for letting her curiosity get the best of her, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’d been bound to happen eventually.

And now, as her eyes drifted around the stark white walls and slightly yellowed tile at her feet, she knew the only reason she was even in this hotel room right now was because of Jax. 

She was so used to sneaking in and out of crazy situation after crazy situation over the years, but she’d always gotten away. She’d always been able to move on to the next adventure. But this was the first time she hadn’t been able to talk her way out of a bad situation, if that’s even what this could even really be called.

She’d gotten away, not through her own fast-talking, even faster-thinking, or just about any manipulation of her own, but because of Jax. 

He’d saved her life this morning when he’d speed-walked away from the trio of grim reapers who’d wanted her head, got in the truck with her, and skidded down that long, dirt road. And he’d saved her life again at the courthouse, when she’d offered him an easy out, and he hadn’t taken it. Now, he was napping on a lumpy mattress in a hotel room in Reno, an hour away from marrying her.

To make matters even worse, he was actually  _ fun  _ to be around - the way he teased her and tried to call out the stories he still couldn’t accept were true...that was  _ fun _ . She’d actually  _ liked  _ talking to him the whole drive to Reno, and she liked the way he’d started to look at her even more. He wasn’t the big asshole she’d thought he was. After everything he’d done for her the last 20 hours or so, he was the  _ opposite _ of an asshole. He was so much more than that...

He’d come through for her in a way that no one else in her life ever had. 

In these last 20 hours or so, she’d gone from hating him to just needing to be near him. And somehow, someway, he’d wound up being the person she trusted more than just about anyone else in her entire life - because she had to, and because she  _ wanted _ to. It was as simple and as complicated as that.

And now, those tears that streamed down her cheeks shocked her. She dipped her fingertip in one of the streams, and then held it up to her eyes to examine it because she just couldn’t believe this was actually happening right now. She was sitting here, crammed into a bathroom, in a cheap hotel room in Reno, an hour away from getting married, and she was doing it all with tears streaming down her face. And goddammit, she was ruining her makeup too.

She blew out a deep breath, pinching her cheeks to get a hold of herself. When that didn’t completely do the job, she fanned herself with both hands and squeezed her eyes shut. With another deep breath, she glanced in the mirror and grimaced. 

Ugh.

Black mascara streaks and blotchy red skin was not a good look. Especially not for a wedding, even if it was in Reno, and even if it was kind of, almost  _ literally  _ a shotgun one.

“Okay, okay, okay,” she muttered under her breath. “You’re fine, you’re  _ fine _ .”

Harper blew out another long, slow breath and then splashed her face with some water. That helped. Drying her face with a towel helped too. So, then she just sprung back into action, tiptoeing outside the bathroom so she didn’t disturb Jax, grabbed the little bit of makeup she’d thrown in her overnight bag, and got to work to fix the mess she’d made.

After some foundation, a few layers of black mascara, some pink blush, and a little bit of pink on her lips, she nodded to her reflection. 

There. That was more like it. Now she felt a little more like herself again too.

She glanced at her phone, and chewed on her bottom lip absentmindedly. Jax still had a good 15 minutes left to sleep, and she wanted to make sure he got that sleep. He’d definitely earned the nap. Figuring that another cup of coffee wouldn’t hurt either of them, especially since she really had no idea where the rest of the day, and night, was going to take them, she grabbed a twenty from her little stack of cash in her bag, and padded across the room before closing the door behind her.

A quick Google search told her there was a Starbucks about a block away from the hotel, so she headed straight for it, glancing up at the dark clouds that had gathered overhead with a wince. They’d planned on walking to the chapel from their hotel, and hopefully they’d miss whatever storm was about to blow through - she’d  _ literally  _ just fixed her damn makeup.

Luckily enough, there wasn’t much of a line, and the hardest part was trying to decide what to order for Jax. She had no idea what kind of latte he might actually drink, if an outlaw biker would actually admit to drinking that sort of thing, so she just winged it, grabbing a few scones too just because they looked delicious on the counter.

She’d just rounded the corner of that long, outdoor walkway back to their hotel room, much happier now that she had some more caffeine, glancing up warily at the thunder rumbling across the sky, when Jax burst out of their room in a panic.

His terrified blue eyes scanned the parking lot frantically, and his ringed hands tore at his sleep-mussed, long blonde hair. Her steps stilled in the walkway right around the time their eyes met. Jax’s handsome face twisted with relief, with a little bit of anxiety still mixed in there, and he stalked toward her with his arms reaching out to her.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he muttered under his breath as he took the coffee cups from her and set them down on the ground. Then he shocked her by tugging her against his chest and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “Don’t ever  _ fucking  _ do that to me again.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I didn’t mean to -”

“I woke up and you were gone,” he whispered into her hair, wrapping his arms around her even tighter as he spoke. “I thought you made a run for it. Fuckin’ scared the shit outta me.”

Harper pulled her head back from his chest, and her eyes widened when she realized just how serious he was. The frantic, almost frenzied panic still hadn’t completely disappeared from his blue eyes, and he swallowed hard as his eyes dropped to her lips.

“Don’t do that again,” he murmured.

Her heart clenched and stuttered away in her chest, which also happened to heaving a little more now than she would’ve liked. “I won’t,” she promised him. “I’m not gonna make a run for it, okay?”

His lips nudged up at the corners in a pained smile, and that panic, and that very  _ real _ fear still hadn’t waded out of his swimming blue eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she tried again. “I figured we both needed some more coffee.”

Jax huffed out a laugh, shaking his head a little even as his mouth lifted into a soft smile. “I woulda went with you, ya know. All you had to do was ask, babe.”

“I wanted to let you sleep,” she shrugged, even more acutely aware now that his hands still lingered on her body, and had now settled on the top of her shoulders. “And I guess I just needed a little walk to clear my head, you know? This has been... _ a lot _ today,” Harper laughed at just how  _ a lot  _ didn’t even begin to cover it, and then the words just tumbled out of her before she could stop them, “I was crying in the bathroom before when you were sleeping and I just…”

She trailed off when she saw the way his eyes flashed with some new panic, and she jumped to explain, pressing a hand to his leather-covered chest, and starting a little when one of his hands immediately covered hers.

“I almost died today, didn’t I?” she smiled softly at him, swallowing back the way his eyes seemed to bore into her, but waited until she saw him nod. “And I didn’t. And now we’re here, and I think everything just finally caught up to me. You know what’s weird? I didn’t even cry when my parents died. Not when I broke things off Eddie. But today’s the day I decide to start crying for some reason.”

“I think that’s fair,” Jax murmured hoarsely. “You okay now?”

Now that he was standing here, with her hand pressed up against his heart, and his hand protectively covering hers, yeah...she was okay now. She worried that she was  _ better  _ than okay.

And just like that, the skies parted and dumped rain on their heads. 

Harper shrieked a little on the impact, but Jax just barked out a laugh, making a mad dash for the coffee cups he set down before, and then they sprinted back inside their hotel room, shutting the door behind them with a laugh.

“And here I got my makeup all perfect and everything,” Harper shook her head as she dragged her fingers through her tangled, damp hair. At this point, it wasn’t even worth looking in a mirror. That was a futile effort anyway, it seemed.

“Aw, don’t worry about that, princess,” Jax laughed as he slipped his leather kutte on and tucked his wallet in his back pocket. “You still look pretty, a’ight?  _ And  _ I should probably point out that your dress is teeny bit see-through right now, and that’s perfectly okay for our purposes today.”

“Well, I’m going to look like a drowned rat in any pictures, just so you know,” she shot back snottily, and he just huffed out a laugh. She wiped underneath her eye to catch some of the black smudges she was sure were already there, but again, that was just a wasted effort. The damage had been done.

His comments were needling away at her whether she liked it or not - he thought she looked pretty. Her dress was a little bit see-through, but that was okay. She didn’t quite know what to make of any of that, so she chose to just set it aside. Instead of lingering too long on just about anything else, Harper busied herself with a quick inventory of everything they needed to bring with them.

“You have your ID?” she called out to him, shaking her head with a little grin as he nodded and downed half his coffee in two big gulps. She double-checked own wallet for her ID, just to make absolutely sure, and then murmured, more to herself than anything, “I’ve got some cash -”

“Don’t worry, princess,” Jax told her from across the room. “I’ve got my card. I feel like that’s more important than the cash.”

She just batted a hand in the air at him as she adjusted the strap on her heel and then started to meet him in the middle of the room. “Okay, I’ve got our license. My phone. Do you have a room key? I’ve already got mine, but you should probably take one too, just in case.”

Jax scratched the back of his head in thought, and then held up a finger before grabbing the room key off the dresser that he’d thrown it on when they first checked in. He slipped it into his back pocket with a wink her way, and then gestured with his head toward the door.

“Come on, babe,” he grinned, reaching out to drape an arm over her shoulders. “We’re gonna be late.”

She just laughed, pushing aside the butterflies kicking around in her stomach, and let him sweep the door open to reveal the downpour waiting for them outside. Then, with a quick inhale to mentally prepare herself for what they were about to do, she glanced up at him.

This man, who was grinning down at her like he might actually be a little excited about this too. This man, who’d saved her life by driving her away from the people who would’ve killed her and driving her here to Reno instead. This man, who’d just about had a heart attack a few minutes when he’d thought she left. This man, who was probably the most beautiful person she’d ever seen. This man, who was  _ fun  _ and flirty and maybe even a little bit goofy sometimes. This man, who was probably the best person she’d ever met in her life. This man...was about to become her husband.

And so, with one last grin, they sprinted out into the rain.

* * *

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like a silk bouquet?”

Harper glanced up from the book she’d been flipping through, that her soaking wet hair was also dripping all over, and rested her chin on her palm as she leaned up against the counter. As she bopped her head along to “Chapel of Love” playing softly in the background, she eyed the sweet little woman behind the counter, who was really just trying to do her job, which just happened to be up-selling to soon-to-be married, and very gullible, couples right before their ceremonies. Then she shifted her weight to glance at Jax, who just shrugged.

“Um, no thank you,” Harper smiled a little too sweetly.

They were almost ready to head back to the Lonesome Dove chapel setting, which was one of four options here at the Antique Angel Chapel, and honestly, she could  _ not  _ wait to finally see that hideous thing in person. But first, they had to get through this last part, in which the sweet little woman behind the counter tried to get them to buy a bunch of stuff.

Jax, for his part, stepped away from the counter for a moment so he could shake some water out of his hair, and then he resumed his position next to her, leaning down to the counter on his elbows. She flipped one of the pages in the book, snickering at a particularly inebriated-looking couple who’d dressed the part for their Lonesome Dove-themed wedding, and she gleefully pointed to the picture to make sure Jax saw it.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he muttered under his breath as he ran a hand over his mouth to mask his grin.

“Isn’t it  _ perfect _ ?” she turned to him with a wide smile, resting a hand on his forearm for extra emphasis. “Like,  _ so  _ perfect, honey?”

“Sure,  _ babe _ ,” Jax threw back dryly. “Anything for you.”

“Aw,” the woman cooed behind the counter. “You two are so cute together.”

Harper tilted her head to the side with a sugary sweet smile, reaching out to tap the woman’s hand across the counter. “Thank you! Aren’t you just the sweetest little thing...so…” she looked a little harder at the woman’s outfit, finally catching her nametag, “ _ Marnie _ . Is there anything else we need to do or can we get started?”

Jax shifted a shoulder to glance up at her from his spot on the counter, biting down on his bottom lip to keep from laughing.

“Oh!” Marnie exclaimed. “Well, we haven’t talked about music yet! Oh, and what about…” she flipped through a few pages in the book in front of Harper, and then pointed down at the page, “Here are all our tux and veil selections. Sir, are you interested in renting a tux instead of wearing, um -”

Jax coughed out a laugh, drawing a fist up to his mouth to cover it up as he glanced down at his leather kutte with a sly grin. “Uh, no. I’m not gonna be rentin’ a tux.”

Marnie’s smile froze on her face for a moment, but she recovered just as quickly, shifting her attention back to Harper, who she must’ve thought was a better target for some reason. “What about a veil, miss? Or, here,” she flipped another page, and pointed at a hideous selection of gaudy, plastic monstrosities, “these are the tiara selections if you’re interested.”

Her lips parted to respond, but Jax’s light laugh cut her off.

“Aw, babe,  _ get  _ the  _ tiara,”  _ he flashed her a smug grin, and then draped an arm around her shoulders to draw her in closer before unleashing that megawatt smile on Marnie. “She  _ is  _ my little princess, ya know.”

Harper lifted a wary eyebrow at him with a snide grin, before shooting Marnie a syrupy sweet smile. “The tiara won’t be necessary, thank you.”

“No worries,” Marnie smiled kindly. “What about rings? Do you need to take care of that as well?”

That made her pause because they really  _ hadn’t  _ thought about that, let alone talked about it. She glanced at Jax out of the corner of her eye, who was still leaning an elbow down on the counter with his chin in his palm and his other arm still slung over her shoulders. He caught her gaze, lifted an eyebrow at her, and then just shrugged easily.

“Might as well,” he leaned in to murmur. “Just pick whatever you want.”

Harper chewed on her bottom lip as Marnie swooped down, and then swooped back up again with a velvet tray filled with simple silver and gold bands. She glanced at Jax again out of the corner of her eye, and he just gestured with his head toward the tray with a grin, rubbing a knuckle over his lips to hide that little grin too.

“Actually,” Marnie informed them softly. “These are the men’s bands. Usually, couples tend to prefer to pick out each other’s rings. It’s just good luck, sorta like rain on your wedding day, right? You know, they say rain on your wedding day is a sign of fertility.”

When Harper and Jax both just blinked back at her, Marnie laughed heartily with a hand to her chest, but she didn’t stop there.

“It’s also supposed to signify that your marriage is going to last,” she winked at them. “And that it represents a cleansing, so to speak, and a fresh chapter. So, I don’t really know why people think rain on their wedding day is a  _ bad  _ thing when, in fact, it’s really the opposite,” then she bent down again before straightening up to set another velvet tray in front of Jax, “These are the ladies’ bands, sir. Just let me know which one of these you’d like for your lovely future wife here, and I’ll get her all sized up.”

Jax’s eyebrows lifted as he drew his eyes up to Marnie for a moment, and then dropped his gaze back down to that velvet tray. He chewed on the inside of his cheek absentmindedly, perusing the selection with some apprehension, almost like he didn’t want to pick the wrong thing, and he lifted his chin to get a look at the simple silver band Harper had just picked up from the men’s tray.

She turned over the price tag, winced at what she saw, and hurriedly set it back back down on the velvet.

“Just get it, Harper. Whatever it costs, it’s not a big deal,” Jax laughed next to her, shooting her a quick grin before he got back to work on his own choice, glancing over at the men’s ring she’d now picked up again, and tapping his finger to his chin as his eyes scanned the ladies’ bands. His eyes flashed when he found what he was looking for, and then he plucked up a band that matched the one she was handing over to Marnie.

“Aw, matching bands,” Marnie sang out. “How  _ sweet _ .”

“ _ So _ sweet,” Harper cooed as Jax coughed back a laugh.

“Here,” Marnie gestured to Harper’s left hand. “Let’s get you measured to make sure they fit.”

Marnie made quick work of wrapping a measuring tape around each of their ring fingers, and then, once she’d unearthed their actual rings, in their right sizes, from another drawer underneath the counter, that was all set to go.

“And what about music for the ceremony?” Marnie pressed on, flipping to another page in the book and pointing down at the page. “Here are all the options we have available, if you’d like some music playing in the background while you walk down the aisle.”

Harper gave it a quick once-over, ignoring the way her heart pounded a little in her chest, and then her eyes lit up when she stumbled across one particular song. She pointed to it, drawing Jax’s attention down to the line on the page. He choked out another laugh, bringing his fist up to his mouth again to muffle his laugh, and he just shook his head with a grin.

He leaned in, murmuring in her ear, “You’re fucking insane, just so you know.”

“Aw,” Harper scrunched up her face, mocking him every step of the way as she clapped a hand to his cheek. “You love me though, don’t you,  _ honey _ ?”

“Of course,  _ babe, _ ” he laughed. “But seriously, what in the fuck?”

She just cocked an eyebrow at him. “Well,  _ I  _ think it’s a hilarious choice. Prove me wrong, Jax. Prove me wrong.”

He immediately lifted his hands up from the counter with a laugh. “Hey, whatever floats your boat.”

“I’m just disappointed they don’t have the  _ Jaws _ theme. Now,  _ that  _ would be pretty perfect, don’t you think?”

“Alright,” he allowed with a shrug. “That would actually be pretty funny.”

“Well,” she informed him as she gestured for Marnie to look at the song she’d picked. “This is the one, and I’m not changing my mind.”

Marnie, bless her heart, scrunched her nose a little at the choice, but then just lifted a shoulder. “Alright. We usually only get requests for that at Halloween, but I’ll get it all queued up for you. And for the music during the ceremony, this is usually a popular choice,” she pointed down to another line, and Harper just shrugged, and then she gestured to another line, “A lot of couples pick this one too for their recessional after the ceremony’s over. What do you think?“

Harper glanced at the name of the song and just shrugged. Seemed fine to her, just as long as they could get this show on the road.

“So, unless you changed your mind on the veil, miss,” Marnie pressed on. “I think we can probably get started. Your officiant, Carol, is right this way in the Lonesome Dove chapel.”

“I don’t need a veil,” Harper just shook her head, but turned her head when Jax nudged her with his elbow. He leaned in again, and her chest tightened and warmed a little at his closeness. 

“You sure you don’t want that?” he murmured in her ear. “I really don’t care about whatever it costs if that’s trippin’ you up. Nothin’ here is really all that expensive anyway - those rings were like, 60 bucks a piece. Get it if you want, babe.”

Her eyes narrowed at him a little playfully. “Do you  _ want  _ me to have a veil or something?”

“You didn’t get the flowers,” Jax just lifted a shoulder nonchalantly, pushing off the counter so he could shove his hands in his pockets. “You can get the veil...isn’t that somethin’ girls usually wear anyway?”

Harper eyed him carefully, chewing on her bottom lip in thought, but when he just shrugged at her again with another easy grin, he’d convinced her. Well, sure, for appearances’ sake and everything, she should probably just get the veil.

After dropping her eyes back to the page Marnie had pointed out to her again, she picked the simplest one she could find - just some light tulle that would barely skim her shoulders, but she figured that was good enough. Marnie nodded to her with a warm smile, and then stepped away from the counter momentarily so she could retrieve that one last selection.

She dared a glance at Jax, whose eyes were on his feet with his hands still in his pockets, but then he lifted his gaze, almost as if he could feel her watching him, and when their eyes met, his blue eyes softened and his lips curled into a gentle smile. He was still watching her with that smile playing on her lips when Marnie reappeared by the counter with the veil in her hand. She gestured to Harper to lean back as she stepped around the side of the counter, and then set the veil’s comb at the top of her soaking wet hair with practiced fingers.

Marnie fluffed the veil out a little, and then nodded to herself. “There. You’re all set.”

As they trailed after Marnie, who led them down a side hallway to get to the chapel, Harper’s heart stuttered and kicked through her chest. Those butterflies dancing around in her stomach weren’t helping either. And, because she just wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do with her hands right now, she glanced over at Jax, who was walking shoulder to shoulder with her with his hands in his pockets. She linked her arm through his, just because that seemed like the thing she probably  _ should  _ do, suddenly feeling a tiny bit shy when his eyes flicked down to her.

Luckily, they reached the chapel’s main entrance before they could do or say much else, and Marnie waved to the short, plump woman who was waiting to greet them.

“This is your officiant, Carol,” Marnie told them, sweeping her hand out to the woman with the kind smile. “And I’ll be your witness for the ceremony as well. I think we’re ready?”

She looked to Carol now, who stepped forward with a black binder in her hand, reaching out to shake their hands. Once that particular formality was done, Carol gestured with her head toward the entrance of the chapel, stopping only at the entrance so they could go through one last thing.

“I understand you chose the basic ceremony?” Carol asked warmly.

“Short and sweet,” Jax nodded to her with a grin, but then something flashed over his face and he held up a finger. “Oh, wait. There’s somethin’ you gotta add though.” 

Then he leaned in to whisper something in Carol’s ear, snickering a little to himself when she barked out a laugh. He glanced at Harper with a sly grin, and just shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, babe. It’s an MC thing.”

“Okay,” Harper replied slowly, narrowing her eyes as Carol dipped her head to Jax one more time as he repeated whatever he’d just told her so she could scribble it into her binder.

Carol was still chuckling to herself as she finished making her note, and then gestured with her head toward the chapel with her eyes on Jax. “Alright, Mr. Teller, you come with me. Your bride is gonna wait down here so she can walk down the aisle to you.”

Jax’s eyebrows lifted again, just as Harper’s heart pounded relentlessly in her chest, but he shot her a quick glance over his shoulder as he followed Carol and Marnie through the white French doors, leading to the chapel’s entrance. 

Harper watched him tilt his head up and glance around at his surroundings - from the aged wood paneling covering the left wall, the red and blue Southwestern carpet at his feet, the wagon wheels nailed into the wall by the altar, the short rows of gold antique armchairs lining the aisle, and finally, to the grand finale - the giant backdrop against the far wall, right at the front of the chapel, that looked like it had thrown up every Southern cliche, complete with hanging lassos, a beat-up guitar, a metal tractor thing that was somehow fixed to the wall, and a smattering of white country daisies and wildflowers all around it.

He glanced over his shoulder at her again with a cocked eyebrow, and shook his head, chuckling all the way to the front of the altar.

It really was perfect. Perfectly terrible in every way.

But the problem now was that she was standing here, at the end of this aisle, all by herself. God, she hadn’t expected to feel so damn  _ nervous  _ all of a sudden. And it completely threw her off her game. 

Everything was going to be fine now, especially once they made it through this part. Her eyes drifted down the length of the aisle, where he was standing next to Carol, with Marnie lingering off to the side as their witness. His hands were folded calmly in front of him with his eyes on the red and blue carpet, but from where she stood, she could see his chest rising and falling against that leather kutte. 

And then the music started playing, with the familiar creak of a coffin opening, some chains clanking on the ground, and some potions bubbling in a beaker.

_ I was working in the lab, late one night _

_ When my eyes beheld an eerie sight _

The second their eyes met from across the room, their shoulders starting shaking with laughter. Even Carol was shaking her head at the song choice. Jax rolled his eyes to the ceiling, scrubbing a hand over his face to mask that grin. And then he flicked his gaze back down, meeting her square in the eye. 

With a light smile curving his lips, and his eyes softening, her feet started to move toward him, despite the way her breath came in and out in shaky rasps, and despite the nerves fluttering around in her stomach, and she chose to just focus on the ridiculousness of the song. If they could laugh about it, they didn’t have to think about it.

_ For my monster from his slab, he began to rise _

_ And suddenly to my surprise _

She anxiously batted some wet, still dripping hair off her shoulder, even as she still found herself laughing at the song. Right about now, Harper wished she really had gotten the bouquet, even if it was an ugly silk one, because she had no idea what to do with her hands. At least Jax could put his hands in his pockets or something, even though he chose to keep them folded in front of him, and so she found herself clinging to her purse strap for lack of anything better to do.

_ He did the mash, he did the monster mash _

_ The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash _

She had to bite down on her bottom lip to keep from completely losing her shit and laughing all the rest of the way down the aisle. That was just easier to focus on because now, although he was still shaking his head at the song, grinning through another laugh, it was his eyes that almost did her in. His eyes watched her intently as she closed the short distance between them, and she felt like she was practically tiptoeing down the aisle now, fighting back the smile that threatened to spread all the way across her face.

When she finally reached the front of the chapel, where everyone else was waiting for her, those butterflies hadn’t ceased their skipping and hopping. Her heart still hadn’t fully recovered from the way it had thundered in her chest just now, and she swallowed hard when Carol gestured for Jax to reach for her hand.

He obliged her, reaching out with a ringed hand and then there was nothing left to do but take his hand. 

On pure instinct, Harper reached out to him with her other hand, and he took it with a soft smile and a wink. She fought back a laugh, biting down on her bottom lip to try to maintain at least a little bit of composure as Carol opened her binder and started to read from it. On cue, the music switched gears, immediately tapering off from the ridiculousness of the  _ Monster Mash, _ and flipping over as Elvis began to croon softly through the speakers.

“As we begin today,” Carol started with a smile to each of them, “I wanted to take a moment to revel in one of life’s richest surprises - that accidental meeting of two life paths, from that first glance of acquaintance to this moment right here, at this chapel and at this altar, where your two life paths converge into one as you commit yourselves to one another.”

Harper’s eyes had been fixed on the vice president patch on Jax’s chest, but her gaze drifted up to his face at those words. When their eyes met, Jax’s lips curved up into that soft smile that warmed and filled her chest.

“At some point, you decided to marry,” Carol went on softly. “And from that moment of yes, to  _ this _ moment of yes, you have been making commitments to each other every step of the way. All those conversations that were held in a car, over a meal, over a cup of coffee - all those conversations that began with  _ someday _ or  _ somehow  _ or  _ maybe  _ \- and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart, they’ve led you to this moment. These symbolic vows that you’re about to make are a way of saying to one another,  _ you know all those things we hoped, and we dreamed, and we promised - well, I meant it all, every word _ . Look at one another and remember this moment in time.”

Carol paused there, giving them that moment.

Harper’s gaze drifted back to Jax’s face, finding him watching her with a ghost of a smile playing on his lips, and she felt her own lips lift at the corners, even as her heart pounded, and even as tears pricked the back of her eyes. She swallowed that down, suddenly overcome by the weight of those words and the weight of what they were doing here with their hands clasped around each other. Jax squeezed her right hand, letting his eyes soften again and he blew out a deep breath.

“Before this moment, you have been many things to one another,” Carol went on. “ Acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another over the time you’ve spent together. In just a moment, you’ll say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never be quite the same. For after today you’ll say to the world: this is my  _ husband _ , this is my  _ wife _ .”

Harper inhaled sharply, clinging to Jax’s hands for dear life, and she felt her chest heave again. This felt...this felt  _ different _ than she’d expected. She  _ felt _ it. Maybe that was the difference. All those words Carol was saying right now...she felt every one of them, right in the chest. And Jax wasn’t any help - pinning those soft navy blue eyes on her and squeezing her hands almost like he felt exactly what she was feeling in this moment too.

“And now,” Carol went on, nodded to each of them, “Jackson and Harper, will you take these vows here before us which symbolize the manifested vows you have already made and will continue to make to each other throughout your lives?”

Harper swallowed tightly, watching as Jax’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat, and then they spoke in unison: “We will.”

With a light smile, Carol gestured to Marnie for their rings and handed one to Harper.

“Now, ladies first,” Carol grinned, nodding to her. “Harper, please repeat after me -”

And as her eyes locked on him, she found herself repeating the vows Carol read out to her:

“I, Harper Claire Sullivan, take you, Jackson Nathaniel Teller _ , _ as my friend and my love, beside me and apart from me, in laughter and in tears, in conflict and tranquillity, asking that you be no other than yourself, loving what I know of you, trusting what I do not yet know, in all the ways that life may find us. With this ring, I give you my promise, to honor you, to be faithful to you, and to share my love and life with you, in all ways, forever.”

Then, with trembling fingertips, she reached for Jax’s left hand, pausing when she realized he was actually already wearing an NS ring on his fourth finger. She looked to him hesitantly for some direction, but he just nodded to her with a soft grin. So, she slipped that NS ring off his ring, and handed it to him so he could put it in his pocket. Then, she glanced up at him one more time, and finding him watching her with that lop-sided smile, she slipped the wedding ring on his finger.

Her breath came in and out shakily as Marnie stepped forward to give Jax the other ring, and then, he shifted his gaze back to her, biting down on his bottom lip while he waited for Carol to prompt him with his vows.

“I, Jackson Nathaniel Teller, take you, Harper Claire Sullivan _ , _ ” Jax told her in a deep, scratchy voice, pausing long enough to flash her a grin, “as my friend and my love, beside me and apart from me, in laughter and in tears, in conflict and tranquillity, asking that you be no other than yourself, loving what I know of you, trusting what I do not yet know, in all the ways that life may find us. With this ring, I give you my promise, to honor you, to be faithful to you, and to share my love and life with you, in all ways, forever.”

He gripped her left hand again, and slipped the wedding ring on her finger, taking a moment to grab her other hand again too.

Then he cocked a sly eyebrow at Carol to prompt her.

“And,” Carol nodded to him with a laugh as she shook her head a little.

“ _ And _ ,” Jax’s jaw worked around a cocky, gorgeous grin as he spoke. “I promise to treat you as good as my leather and ride you as much as my Harley.”

Harper’s mouth dropped open, her eyes widening in mock-horror, even as Carol and Marnie burst out laughing around her. “ _ What _ ?”

“I told ya, babe,” he just shrugged through another grin. “It’s an MC thing.”

Carol, still laughing, wiped underneath her eye, and finally got a hold of herself, gripping that black binder again as Harper shook her head at Jax with an amused grin.

“That’s  _ really _ nice, Jax. Really nice,” Harper told him, playfully narrowing her eyes at him, but he just winked at her and squeezed her hands again.

“Well, on that note,” Carol laughed. “Having entered into this covenant of marriage by the exchanging of your vows and the giving and the receiving of your rings, by the power vested in me by the state of Nevada, I now pronounce you husband and wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Jackson Teller,” she gestured to Jax, a wide, happy grin crossing her face, “You may kiss your bride.”

Harper’s lips parted shakily as her eyes lifted back up to face him, but he was already moving toward her. The calloused fingers that held her left hand slipped away so they could brush her cheek as he closed the short distance between them, hesitating just long enough to meet her in the eyes. She barely had any time to register what she found reflected back in his eyes, the determination, the genuine happiness, the tenderness - all of it, because Jax stepped closer and brushed his lips against hers.

He pulled back for just a moment, inhaling just as shakily as she did, and then they moved at the same time - sealing their lips together as Jax closed both hands around her face to draw her in deeper, and as she slipped her arms around his waist, dipping underneath his kutte, to bring him in closer. 

Freddie Mercury’s voice floated through the speakers now, right along with the guitar, as he sang about this thing called love, and her mind completely went blank. 

Jax’s lips were still moving over hers, as their witness and officiant clapped happily in the background, and she just couldn’t bat down the way he made her feel. The way the feel of his soft lips against hers shot sparks between them, from their wet hair all the way down to his damp white sneakers and her soaked heels. She’d never thought fireworks were an actual thing people could feel when they kissed - but here it was. Right here on her lips, compounded by the feel of the smooth, rain-soaked leather underneath her fingertips and the heady scent of musk and gasoline wrapping around her and squeezing tight.

Her heart was still pounding when his hands dropped away from her face, slipping down to her waist, and he pulled back, breaking that spell and making her immediately mourn the loss of his warm lips pressed against hers.

But his eyes just about knocked her off her feet.

They were effing sparkling.  _ Sparkling _ .

And then his lips curved into a sexy, lop-sided grin as she heard the soft click of a camera behind them.

“Look over here,” Marnie called out to them, and so they turned, with Jax’s arm slung around her shoulders and her arm wrapped around his waist, and grinning at each other until Marnie got their attention. “You’ve got all night for that now - just look over here for one second so I can get a good picture!”

They turned, obliging their makeshift and appropriately-priced photographer, and flashed her a grin so she could snap a couple more pictures of them standing at the altar, with that ridiculous backdrop and its aged wood paneling, and the wagon wheels right off to the side, and their arms wrapped around each other.

Once Marnie was satisfied, they were led back down the aisle and back to the lobby where they’d started - only this time, Jax draped an arm around her shoulders and she slipped her arm underneath his kutte and around his waist.

“Let’s just get your marriage license squared away and then you’ll be all set to go off and celebrate!” Marnie told them, clapping her hands together excitedly. She took a moment to sign on the witness line, and then Jax turned to her with his eyebrows raised and a smile on his handsome face, almost as if he was saying to her... _ is this really happening right now? Are we really fucking married right now? _

Carol took her turn next, signing on the officiant’s line before handing it back to Marnie, who stamped it with some kind of official-looking Nevada government stamp to  _ really _ make it official, and then she scanned it into a computer. When the printer spit out a page, she handed it over to Harper with a happy smile.

Harper glanced down at the paper, and her heart squeezed in her chest.

“There’s your copy! Your license is on file now, and that means you’re  _ officially _ married. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Teller!”   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - So the wedding bells have rung, and now they're officially married. And now they have to figure out what all this means (not to mention how they were feeling during the ceremony). They could joke about it and not take it lightly right up until the ceremony started, right? Then they had to get serious ;)
> 
> Thoughts on their wedding? Predictions about what's going to happen in the last two chapters? As always, thank you for reading!


	9. Chapter Nine

By the time they stepped onto the sidewalk, leaving the Antique Angel Chapel behind them, and with Harper triple-checking that she had the copy of their marriage license safely tucked away in her purse, sheets of rain poured down around them.

"Holy shit," Jax muttered under his breath.

Luckily, they were also standing underneath the awning right outside the chapel, but they couldn't stand there forever.

The hotel was two blocks to their left, but he had a feeling neither of them were quite ready to go back there yet. Maybe it was for the best that it wasn't even seven o'clock yet, and they really did have the whole night ahead of them.

Harper turned to him with a grimace on her pretty face - she still had some mascara streaked underneath her eyes, her hair was still damp from their sprint to the chapel before the ceremony, and that dress really was a little see-through. If he looked hard enough, and he kinda was, the outline of her bra, not to mention her underwear, was pretty damn hard to miss.

"Now what do we do?" Harper laughed, gesturing to the torrential rain blowing around them.

He was moving toward her before he could stop himself, bringing a hand to her neck, drifting his thumb across her lips, and he leaned down to press his lips against hers. Harper never hesitated. Her lips parted to give him better access with her arms wrapped around his neck so she could pull him closer, and in deeper, and his tongue slipped between her parted lips.

He'd known she would taste sweet. He just hadn't expected her to be _this_ sweet, _this_ funny, _this_ gorgeous, _this_ exciting, _this_ game for just about anything, _this_ smart, _this_ brave. And that's what he had now. He had all of that if he wanted it, and he was starting to feel like he did. He really did.

Why wouldn't he?

Something had changed between them during the time they'd sat on the floor of his dorm to right here, with their arms wrapped around each other, kissing underneath an awning in the rain. Maybe it was only just the extreme circumstances that had led them here...but here they were.

Finally, he let his tongue sweep around hers one more time before pulling back so he could take her in, standing there looking up at him with eyes that weren't quite blue, weren't quite green, but were beautiful just the same. His thumb brushed across her cheek, settling at the corner of her lips as she smiled into his touch.

"What was that for?" she laughed, her eyes sparkling up at him.

Jax lifted a shoulder as he grinned down at her. "Just felt like kissin' you."

"Okay," she laughed again.

"So that's okay?" he cocked an eyebrow at her. "Me kissin' you when I feel like it?"

Her head tilted to the side as she playfully narrowed her eyes at him even as she leaned in deeper so her chest brushed against his leather kutte. "I didn't hate it," she mused playfully, "so I suppose that's okay."

He followed that up by leaning in and pressing his lips to hers again, just because he could. Just because he wanted to.

"But seriously though," Harper laughed against his lips. "What do we do now?"

That felt a little bit like a loaded question - one that needed answering, but maybe one that could wait, even if it was only a few minutes, a few hours, or a few days. For now, something _good_ had settled itself on his shoulders, something he hadn't really felt in a really long time, and for now, he just wanted to hold onto that for as long as he could. Because why the hell not? Tomorrow, when they had to get back in that T-M truck and drive home to Charming, they'd also have to face everything waiting there for them too.

"Let's hold that thought for now, okay?" he told her with a soft grin, letting his thumb sweep across her lips again.

It took her a moment, but her eyes shone with that shared understanding. Over the years, he liked to believe he'd cultivated a few important skills when it came to women. While he'd never pretend to read their _minds_ , even if that was something he'd want to do, he'd gotten pretty good at reading _them_ , just in general. What they wanted, what they didn't want, when they wanted it, how they wanted it, but up until now, that knowledge had more to do with the ins and outs of getting them in and out of his dorm.

But with Harper, it was different.

Sure, most of the time he had no idea what was going to come out of her mouth or what she was going to do next, but he felt like, somehow, someway, he just _knew_ her.

Somewhere in between the time he'd skidded into the office last night and saw her taped to a chair, to the time they'd spent on the floor of his dorm, to the desperate battle he'd waged to keep her out of a six-foot hole, to their drive to Reno, to the selfless out she'd given him by the courthouse, to the very real panic he'd felt when he'd woken up alone in their hotel room, to the moment he'd watched her walk down the aisle to the _Monster Mash_...he just _knew_ her. And he knew her in a way that had nothing to do with the ins and outs of getting her in and out of his dorm.

This was different because it _felt_ different. This was different because, for the first time in his life, he'd taken responsibility for someone who wasn't his blood or a member of his chosen family. He'd just stood at some altar in some ridiculous chapel in Reno, of all fucking places, and he'd married her. He'd taken _vows_ in front of two strangers, holding her hands, and giving her a ring.

Their officiant was right - they'd said some words in front of each other, and now it really did feel like things would never be the same between them.

And he'd never planned on it, never wanted it, never even really _thought_ it was anything he'd ever do at any point in his life.

But here he was, with his arms wrapped around the girl he'd just married.

"Okay," she murmured with a soft smile. "We can shelve that for now. So…" her face scrunched up at him a little in thought. "Should we, I don't know, find someplace to get some food? Maybe a drink or two?"

"I think that's something people do after they get married, isn't it?" he threw out lightly, but he didn't let his thumb leave her cheek.

"I think it is."

He nodded to her with another grin, but now they did have to figure out, literally, what to do next and where to go. They really couldn't stand underneath this awning forever - that and it was fucking cold and wet under here too. Harper pulled her phone out of her purse, and her fingers flew across the screen as her eyes squinted down whatever she found. Then she glanced up at him, jerking a thumb over her shoulder.

"There's a tavern right around the corner," she informed him. "It's called _The Blind Dog Tavern_ \- sounds like your kinda place."

He just huffed out a laugh. "Bullshit. How do you know what my kinda place is?"

Her eyes flicked down to his white sneakers, lifted pointedly to his leather kutte, and then she cocked an eyebrow at him knowingly. With a laugh, he hitched his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Are you _judging_ me, princess?"

" _Yes_."

His head tipped back as he laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her in tight.

"I think it's only fair," she went on with a smile. "But anyway, this place has, like, four and a half stars, so it can't be that bad."

"Well, in that case, it's probably _not_ my kinda place. I'm more of a two-star kinda guy."

"I hadn't noticed," she tossed back dryly. "But who cares? Live a little bit, ya old man. We're going - unless you've got a better idea?"

"Alright," he grinned, leaning in one more time to brush his lips against her mouth, and liking the way her lips curled into him.

"So, we doing this or what?"

There was only one answer he could give her: "Oh, we're doin' it."

* * *

Jax was still shaking the rain out of his eyes when Harper hopped up onto a bar stool. She patted the stool next to her, and he slid in next to her with a smirk. He slipped an arm around her waist, just so he could lean in closer to her ear, and just so he could lean in closer in general.

"Yeah, definitely not my usual scene, princess."

Harper just batted a hand at him before smiling broadly at the suspender-wearing bartender in front of them, who handed them menus. Any bar that had drink menus or bookshelves and a ladder where there should be stacks of liquor bottles was definitely not his kinda place, not to mention the fact the low lighting wasn't from dimming overhanging bulbs like he was used to in the clubhouse, but from those stupid Edison light things.

But he was just gonna go with it. And have some fun, because why the hell not? When in Reno and all that shit.

It took the bartender a moment, maybe because Harper's white dress was completely soaked, and also just about complete see-through, but he registered the fact that she was also wearing a soaking wet veil, in addition to wearing a soaking wet, see-through dress.

The bartender pointed at Harper with a happy smile, "Did you guys just get married?"

They turned to each other, leaning their elbows on the bar, and Jax winked at her, drawing her in a little bit closer underneath his arm.

"We _did_ ," Harper informed him. "About five minutes ago, actually."

The bartender let out a whoot, reaching behind him to ring a cowbell right next to the bar, and then two seconds later, "Another One Bites the Dust" blasted from the speakers overhead.

"And another one gone!" the bartender shouted, as the patrons, clearly in on the joke and used to this kind of thing with a wedding chapel right around the corner, lifted their glasses around them to toast them.

Harper, of course, ate up the attention, flipping her sopping wet hair over her shoulder, waving around like she was a contestant in a beauty pageant, and grinning like a lunatic as the bartender set two shot glasses in front of them.

"Compliments of the house," he winked at them. "Congrats, guys."

Jax flashed her a smirk as he reached out to grab his shot glass and then handed one to her. Without another word between them, they clinked their glasses together and downed the shots. Harper scrunched up her face in mock-disgust, and she pushed her glass away like it had just committed some kind of egregious offense against her, and he figured it probably had.

"Ugh," she stuck her tongue out at him, screwing her nose up again as she reached for the drink menu.

"I take it you're not a tequila kinda girl, princess?"

Harper glanced around conspiratorially before leaning to whisper in his ear, "Not without training wheels."

He huffed out a laugh, turning his head to face her - now their faces were just a few inches apart, and even though she still had a smile playing on those pretty lips, her eyes dropped down to his mouth. But instead of leaning closer, she decided to tease him a little bit, propping her head up on her elbow slyly, letting her eyes drop back down to his lips again just to make her point.

That familiar tug pulled at his heart - but not because of anything but her. His chest was rising and falling against his damp leather kutte a little more rapidly now, and that was okay. He found himself leaning into the way she was making him feel, and liking it more than he probably had any right to, but he just couldn't help it.

Being around her...everything else just faded into the background.

So, he decided to test the waters a little more, just to see what she would do, and he reached underneath the bar stoop to rest a hand on her bare knee.

Her eyes flashed at the contact, but she recovered just as quickly, tilting her head to the side as her lips curled up into a cute half smile that kinda made him want to lean in and kiss her again. And then, she cocked an eyebrow at him as her hand drifted down to cover his.

"Oh yeah?" Harper murmured, meeting his challenge and taking it one step further. She shocked him by sliding his hand away from her knee, and up the smooth rain-slicked skin on her thigh, right up to the edge of her lacy white hem.

Oh yeah.

Then her eyebrows lifted suggestively. "I double-dog dare you, Jax."

He tipped his chin to her with a smirk. "You double-dog dare me, _what_?"

When she just lifted her eyebrows again suggestively at him, with her mouth curving up to the side with some heat behind it now. "You know what."

"Hmm," he hummed, letting his eyes drift around the bar, which was only about half-full, and definitely not full enough with people to give him a little cover. But, he figured, they were in Reno, and it was clear to everyone around them right now that they'd literally just come from a wedding chapel.

Now, Harper leaned in again until her lips kissed his ear, "I _triple_ -dog dare you."

Well, in that case.

"One thing you need to know about me, princess," he murmured in her ear, letting his pinky finger slide underneath the hem of her dress. "I never back down from a -"

"So," the bartender materialized right in front of them again. "You guys decide on drinks yet?"

Jax cocked an eyebrow at the bartender, levelling him with a hard glare for such a poorly-timed interruption - right when he was about to actually _get_ somewhere. The bartender's eyes widened a little, holding his hands in the air in defense until Harper's light, airy laugh cut through the momentary tension.

"We'll order something," she grinned, picking up the drink menu again to peruse it and tapping a finger to her chin in thought. To her credit, her eyes fixed on the menu, even though he still hadn't moved his finger from underneath her dress. "Hmmm, I will take the…" her eyes lit up when she settled on one of the options, "Robert California. That sounds _fantastic."_

Then the bartender hesitantly glanced at Jax. His irritation for this guy flared again, and he just lifted a shoulder at Harper. This was obviously a mixology-and-cocktail kind of place, not a Bud-and-Coors kind of place, and whatever concoction she selected for him would be just fine. Alcohol was alcohol at this point.

"And for you, _honey_ ," Harper grinned evilly at him before her eyes dropped to the drink menu one last time. Then her eyes flashed, and when she lifted those flashing hazel eyes back up to him, he knew she was up to no good. "He'll take the…" she smiled at the bartender, "Suffering Bastard."

"Excellent choice, ma'am," the bartender nodded to her, quietly slipping the drink menu off the bartop and replacing it with a pizza menu.

"A Suffering Bastard, huh?" he cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Seemed appropriate."

"Uh huh," he huffed out a laugh, but now that the bartender had stepped away, he didn't miss the opportunity that had presented itself.

He slipped the hand on her thigh all the way underneath her dress, smirking at the way her lips parted and the way she sucked in a quick, sharp breath, and his fingers slid up her soft, smooth skin right until his fingertips brushed the edge of her panties.

When he slipped his hand out from underneath her dress, letting it linger on her knee again, he leaned in to murmur in her ear, "I never back down from a dare, princess. Besides, I didn't realize just how much I wanted to do that until I did it."

"Oh really?" Harper laughed, recovering quickly. "That's interesting...I was kinda under the impression that you hated me, at least up until yesterday."

He leaned in, and almost on reflex, his eyes dropped to the simple silver wedding band on her left hand. So he folded his hands in front of him, glancing down at the matching silver wedding band on his own left hand.

"I never hated you," he murmured in her ear. "But to be fair, I, too, was under the impression that you had a strong... _dislike_ for me, up until yesterday at least."

Harper smiled back softly. "I was under the impression you were a massive asshole."

"Well, see, _that's_ true," he laughed, pushing up the sleeves on his wet flannel as he spoke. "I _am_ a massive asshole."

"That's not true," Harper shook her head, that soft smile still playing on her lips. "I'm pretty sure a massive asshole wouldn't have done what you did for me today."

He sucked in a breath, letting his eyes drop back down to his folded hands in front of him. There were a few things tucked in around her words that he wasn't quite sure how to unpack. Initially, it had just been about the club. Keeping the club on the right path. Doing the right thing. Not letting another innocent woman suffer for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It had been almost 24 hours since she'd seen him shoot two men in the head, and in that time, his reasons for driving her to Reno had shifted.

It wasn't just about saving an innocent life anymore. It was about saving _her_ life.

 _Her_ life mattered to him.

"You saved my life, Jax," she smiled softly when he turned to face her. "It's okay - I think we can say that out loud now."

And there was something about the gratitude he heard in her voice that made him feel a little uneasy. It wasn't that there was necessarily something _wrong_ with her feeling gratitude toward him - that was fair, and it was understandable. She'd held it together so well through this whole damn thing, save for the little breakdown she'd told him about before they left for the chapel.

But the last thing he wanted was for her to feel like she owed him something. Like she was obligated to do anything at any point.

Maybe he was better off just keeping his hands to himself now.

He shot the bartender a tight smile when he set their drinks in front of them, and when he finally shifted his gaze back to Harper, he found her watching him carefully, chewing on her bottom lip in thought and then she leaned forward to take a sip of her drink.

"Mmm," she hummed. "This is pretty good."

And then, before he even had a chance to do much else, she leaned to her left with an elbow on the bar, and wrapped her lips around his straw too.

"Mmm," she hummed again, looking up at him with a smile. "Yours is pretty good too."

"Is it?" he murmured hoarsely, unable to tear his eyes away when she dipped down to wrap her lips around his straw one more time.

And suddenly, he just needed to do something to make sure the air was clear between them. Even if he ended up making a fool of himself. Even if it turned out that this was all just an act on her part. The way things were headed tonight...if he didn't try to stop it now, he might not get the nerve again. And if he let things escalate the way they were, if he kept touching her and kissing her, and if she played along with it, he might not be able to control himself by the time they ended up in their hotel room later tonight either.

Because right about now, he had a pretty good feeling what he wanted to _do_ with her once they got back to that hotel room. But if they got that far, it needed to be on her terms - and not because she felt like he expected anything from her at any given point tonight, or any night after that, because he'd married her today to save her life.

There was still time and space to put a stop to this before they went too far.

So, before he lost the nerve, and before he changed his mind, he tipped his chin to the bartender.

"Hey, we'll be right back, a'ight?"

The bartender just shrugged, signalling he'd keep their drinks right where they were, and now all he had to do was face Harper. Her lips curled softly at him, and goddammit, she was so pretty it almost hurt...sitting there next to him with black mascara underneath her eyes, tangled wet hair, that white dress that was probably just as cold now as it was damp, that matted white veil clipped into the back of her head...maybe she did look a little bit like a drowned rat. But she was the drowned rat he'd married today.

And that meant something to him.

* * *

Harper followed his lead, leaning up against the outside of the tavern, careful to keep her body underneath the narrow awning above their heads. She wrapped her arms around herself for a little warmth as he dug into the inside pocket of his kutte for his cigarette pack. Jax slid two out of the pack before wordlessly handing one of them to her, and then he surprised her by leaning in with the open flame from his lighter to light hers up first.

They smoked their cigarettes in silence for a few moments, with Jax leaning up against the building about a foot away from her. Even though that distance between them was technically a short one, it felt longer and wider all of a sudden, like the air had shifted between them, but for reasons she didn't quite understand.

And here she thought they'd been having some real fun together.

Jax kicked a foot out in front of him, almost like he could read her thoughts, and shifted his eyes to the pavement.

"Hey, uh," he started a little shakily as he raked a hand through his wet hair. "I'm sorry about before. I shouldn't have done that...my hand on your leg like that."

Really? _That's_ what he'd dragged her out here in the rain to say?

"I'm not sorry about it," she frowned, resting a hand underneath her elbow as she brought her left hand, and her cigarette, back up to her lips. She caught a glimpse of the wedding ring on her finger, and her heart squeezed a little at the sight.

Jax just huffed out a laugh with a light smile. "Okay. Maybe I'm not _completely_ sorry about it either, but that doesn't mean I should've done it."

"You know," she told him wryly. "If you're _trying_ to convince me you're actually a massive asshole, you're not doing a very good job."

His lips quirked up as he tipped his chin to her, flicking some ash from his cigarette before shoving his free hand deep inside his front pocket.

"So why are we really out here right now, Jax?"

Because up until now, she'd been having the time of her life with him, and that was really saying something, considering she'd spent the better part of the year hopping between LA, Belize, and St. Tropez on Eddie's boss's private jet.

His chest heaved against his leather kutte, but he kept his eyes glued to the pavement. "So, before...you asked what we do now, and I'd said we should hold that thought. I think we should probably have that conversation now before I do something stupid again."

"Alright," she allowed evenly.

Finally, his eyes lifted from the pavement and landed right on her. Whatever easy, light-headed air had been between them before evaporated almost instantly. His navy blue eyes were serious. Heavy, too. Weighed down by whatever he was about to say, and her heart started its slow plummet right into the pit of her stomach.

"Look," he sighed, tucking some tangled blonde hair behind his ear as he spoke. "When we get back to Charming tomorrow, there's some serious shit waiting for us. I wouldn't be all that surprised if the ATF's already sittin' outside the clubhouse, just waitin' for us to come home. I know we need to get our stories straight and everything, and we can do that later, but for now, I think we need to straighten out what's happening right _here_ , don't you think?"

She nodded tightly and started to chew on her bottom lip. Some nerves fluttered around in her stomach. This was new. And weird...like she was right on the edge of being broken up with. Like he was just trying to ease her into it so she didn't take off running. Usually, she was on the other end of this conversation, when she wasn't walking in on them in bed with another woman at least.

"All I can do is be honest with you, Harper," he pushed on. "So, that's what I'm gonna do...just be honest about all this, alright? I think I've already been pretty fucking honest with you so far - I've told you some shit about the club that I probably shouldn't have, and some of those things I've never really told anyone before. I guess what I'm tryin' to say is that I'm not gonna stand here and lie to you or blow a bunch of smoke up your ass, and if we don't agree on what's really happening here and why it's happening, that's _okay_. Nothing we say from here on out changes anything about that legal paperwork in your purse. I'm not gonna leave you hangin' if we disagree, and I'm not gonna throw you to the wolves either - all I ask is that you do the same for me. I _need_ you to understand that it's really okay for us to disagree...okay?"

And although she was still on the fence about how she should really take all this, she nodded. "Okay, Jax. I understand."

"So that means you gotta be honest with me too," his jaw worked around a sexy smirk that really had no right to be so sexy in this moment. "No lies. No bullshit. You gotta tell me the truth for once, princess."

Harper just huffed out a laugh and shook her head at him. "I've _always_ told you the truth."

That smirk on his lips only widened as he jabbed a finger at her. "Bullshit."

Her eyes lifted to the dripping awning above their heads. "What about that concept is so difficult for you to understand?"

"What?" he cocked an eyebrow at her. "You really expect me to believe you were shackin' up with some Saudi prince in some apartment in some palace? _Or_ that you got chased down in heels by the fucking _Yakuza_ on Christmas Eve? _Or_ that you hooked up Dave Franco before you dropped him for some fucking musician? _Or_ that you raided a Kushner Hanukkah party just because it sounded like fun at the time? Should I keep going or did I make my point?"

She tilted her head to the side, regarding him carefully as she flicked some ash from her cigarette and folded her free arm across her stomach.

"Mmkay, you made your point. But I'm not gonna tell you what you wanna hear, Jax, just because that's what you wanna hear. So, if I told you right now that I made up all those things - for some stupid reason - I'd just be telling you what you wanna hear and that would be a lie. I've _never_ lied to you. About anything."

Jax cocked an eyebrow at her, but he kept his gaze squarely on her.

"If I'm supposed to trust that you're not gonna blow smoke up my ass, you have to trust me too."

He blew out a heavy breath, shifting his eyes out onto the street and squinting up at the sheets of rain pouring down around them. "You're right. So...we agree to trust that the other is telling the truth? Right now?"

"Yes," she allowed with a small smile. "Right now."

Jax nodded, probably more to himself than anything, and drew his eyes back down to his feet, glancing up at her one more time before she heard his voice again.

"This feels real," he told her quietly. "All this today...it feels like we really ran off and got married. Does it feel like that to you?"

She sucked in a shaky breath. That was _not_ where she'd been expecting him to take this. Here, she'd been fully prepared for some gently-worded speech about how he was sorry things had gone too far, that he'd gotten carried away, and that they should head back to Charming right now. To be fair, he probably could _still_ say those things to her, but she'd promised to tell the truth. So that's what she was going to do.

"Yeah," she whispered. "It feels real to me too."

Standing up there at that altar with him, with their hands wrapped around each other, with the way he was looking at her, it had felt like they were _actually_ marrying each other in all the ways people actually marry each other. It had felt like they were _actually_ making those promises to each other because they'd _actually_ meant them.

Jax swallowed hard, his eyes softening a little as his lips curled up into a small smile. "Good."

And then he just kept right on going.

"I had this crazy feeling when I was standing there today, waiting for you to walk toward me at the chapel. That fucking insane song started playing, and I saw you standing there, laughing, and looking so damn pretty in your white dress, and I thought, _yeah, I think I wanna marry this girl today."_

Her heart twisted in her chest, and it took her a moment to really register what he'd just said. He really _was_ being completely honest with her, right now, in this moment, and the things he was saying...she hadn't realized how badly she'd wanted him to say them until he did.

He huffed out a laugh, shaking his head at himself. "I _know_ how stupid that sounds, okay? We haven't known each other very long, and I know this crazy situation pushed us together in a way we wouldn't have been otherwise and since I gotta be honest, I gotta say that the first time I met you, I thought you were some psycho compulsive liar wrapped up in this really pretty package...and since I gotta be honest, I _still_ think that's not too far off from the truth," he laughed again, glancing up at her with soft eyes, "but I think that's also why I kinda liked talking to you. And why I felt myself kinda drawn in by you. And why I kinda liked you. I still do."

"So," she tilted her head to the side with a smile. "Are you saying you kinda _like_ me, Jax?"

Jax bit down on his bottom lip, dipping his eyes down to his feet, but he couldn't hide the smile that slipped across his face. By the time he glanced back up, squinting at her a little playfully with one eye open, she had a pretty good feeling she already knew what his answer was going to be.

"Yeah," he smirked. "That's what I'm saying. And since I gotta be honest, I should probably let you know that what I've been feeling for you...it's _more_ than that. I started out this day just wanting to save your life and to keep you safe, and at some point, that shifted for me. I mean," he laughed lightly, rubbing the back of his neck a little anxiously, "I'm not tryin' to say I _don't_ wanna save your life and keep you safe anymore."

"I know," she smiled softly.

"But it's about more than that for me now, Harper. Your life...your safety, it feels fuckin' precious to me," he paused there, pushing out a heavy sigh as he took another long pull from his cigarette.

"Just thinkin' about what could've happened to you today, and all the different ways you could've fucking _died_ \- God, I can't even think about it, let alone say that shit out without feeling like I'm gonna throw up. And I feel like...I'd just be lying to both of us if I stood here and tried to say that I don't have real feelings for you. And I think I felt them the first time we met - I just had no idea what to do with them when I felt them. And since I gotta be honest, I'm really not sure there's anyone in this world I'd rather be in this crazy, fucked-up situation with than you - or anyone in this world I _like_ more than I like you."

Her heart clenched up, squeezing tightly around that last little bit of control she had. That last little bit of self-preservation that she'd been clinging to since the moment he'd burst out of their hotel room in a panic because he thought she'd left him was quickly evaporating. And now, she knew it was her turn to respond, and to respond honestly, but he cut her off before she could get a word in.

"This is probably gonna come as a huge shock to you," Jax smiled softly. "But I've never really...I've never had an old lady before. Never really had a serious relationship that meant anything because I never wanted it. Never went lookin' for it. I think I've purposefully avoided anything serious because life was always just easier that way and because I'd gotten myself convinced that it wasn't worth the drama or the effort or...just about anything else."

"I can see that," she nodded, flicking some ash from her cigarette. "And this is probably gonna come as a huge shock to _you_ , but I've always cut and run before I can catch feelings too. It's just easier that way, and I guess if I live by any real rules at all, that's the biggest one for me. Keeps me sane. Keeps me from doing something stupid too."

"Like what?" Jax threw out lightly. "Marrying some guy, who up until yesterday, you thought was a massive asshole?"

"Something like that, yeah," Harper laughed. "Look at me, breaking all the rules."

Jax swallowed hard, glancing down at his feet again as he nodded to himself. "I think I know what you mean. It kinda feels like I got dropped right in the middle of something today, you know? Like I picked up an old lady somewhere between Charming and Reno, and I thought whenever I got to that point in my life, if I ever did - I thought I'd fight it more or I don't know, that it wouldn't feel like a big deal or somethin'. But I wasn't expecting to feel like _this_ about it."

"And how do you feel about it?"

His lips lifted softly at the corners, and she shivered a little from the impact.

"There's not much in my life that makes a lot of sense, Harper. At least not to someone who's…" he trailed off, like he was grappling for the right words.

"Normal?" she offered lightly.

"Yeah," Jax grinned. "That works. But the life I lead, the shit the club gets into, the risks we take every single day...I _know_ , just instinctively, that that shit's just not normal, even if it's normal for me, and that a lot of the risks we take just don't make a lot of sense most of the time. But that's the outlaw life - that's what I chose. That's what I want. That's what I'm used to. So, I think because of that, it's really not that hard for me to accept _this_ either. It's crazy. It really fucking is, and I know it wouldn't make a lot of sense to anyone on the outside looking in. But it makes sense to _me_ because I learned a long time ago to trust my instincts about things that seem crazy and about things that just don't make sense."

"So what are your instincts telling you right now?"

His eyes flicked up to her with some resolve, and even a little bit of heat in them too. "That this is real, and the things I'm feeling for you...they scare the shit out of me because I've honestly never let myself feel them before, but I don't wanna run from that either. This is gonna sound stupid and cliche and probably a little lame, but I'm gonna say it anyway because it's true...I think the reason I've never had an old lady before is because I never met a girl I _wanted_ to be my old lady. And then I met you."

Harper scrunched her nose at him playfully. "That's a _little_ lame. Just a little. But I'll accept it for the compliment that it is."

"I guess what I'm trying to say," Jax laughed, shaking his head at her a little with a smile, "is that I feel like I got myself an old lady today, and I'm not even a little bit mad about it or trying to fight it. You ended up bein' the surprise of my life, Harper, and my instincts are tellin' me to hang on and enjoy the ride because the alternative just doesn't seem like an option for me anymore."

There was so much in everything he'd just said that she couldn't really wrap her head around. It made sense to her too - it really did. But right now, there was just one thing standing out to her that she didn't understand.

"You wanna know what's funny?" she smiled.

"What's that, princess?"

"When we first met, I thought we couldn't have been more different. Like, just complete polar opposites in just about every way."

He flashed her a sexy smirk. "I thought you were a creature from another planet. Still kinda do though, not gonna lie."

"Sure," she huffed out a laugh. "But all that aside, I think we're a lot more alike than we probably even know. We're both pretty cynical. Pragmatic, too, I think. And, like you, I learned a long time ago that all I can really count on are my instincts. I guess it's a good thing our instincts are telling us the same thing, huh?"

"Right," he laughed, flashing another smile at her that made her squeeze the insides of her thighs together.

"So what does that mean?" Harper tilted her head to the side in thought. "That thing you said about feeling like you got an old lady today?"

Jax's mouth curled knowingly, and he nodded to her with another smirk as he flicked some ash from his cigarette before bringing it back to his lips. "That's the term we use in the club - it's not quite the same as having a girlfriend, and actually it's a lot like having a wife, even if you don't actually get married, like we did. Having an old lady means you're serious about the girl. That you're committed to her. That there are real, honest feelings involved that you don't feel about anyone else. It also means you don't want anyone else to have her either. And the club respects that, honors that...we're supposed to _protect_ it. It's kinda like staking your claim on a girl, you know?"

"So…"

"So," he smiled. "I think that us doing what we did today - gettin' married, knowin' it felt real...that makes you my old lady. It kinda _automatically_ makes you my old lady, since we're married now, ya know. And I'm good with that. Are you?"

"Yeah," she grinned back. "I think I am."

"Good," he nodded. "But all that being said, Harper, and honestly - _because_ of all that, I need you to know that I don't expect anything from you. _Anything._ I don't want you to feel like you owe me. Or that you need to pay me back. Or that you need to do just about anything. I don't...I don't want you to feel any kind of obligation here, okay?"

He waited long enough to see her nod before charging ahead.

"I guess I was just startin' to get the feeling that things are headed a certain kinda way between us."

"And what kinda way is that?" she threw out lightly.

He huffed out a laugh, but when he looked back up at her again with some heat in his navy blue eyes, and that sexy smirk curling his lips, it almost knocked her sideways.

"The kind that ends with us naked in that hotel room tonight."

"Ah," she grinned. "I see. I think I know what you mean - about things heading a certain kinda way between us."

Jax tipped his chin to her, that sexy smirk still working its way around his lips, and she used the little bit of willpower she had left to stop herself from leaning in right there.

"So about that hotel room," he grinned at her and flicked some ash from his cigarette. "I just wanna let you know right now that whatever happens in that room, and whatever happens leading up to us getting there - that's your call. I meant what I said about not expecting anything from you, and the last thing I want is for you to feel any kind of pressure here. We can enjoy our night, order some pizza, have some drinks, maybe hit up that casino down the street, and we can come back to the hotel and just sleep. I can sleep on the floor. Hell, I'll sleep in the truck if you want me to, and maybe I should anyway, just to be on the safe side."

At this point, if he really was trying to convince her he was a massive asshole, he'd completely failed that mission.

"But what about the other option," she cocked her head to the side with a small smile. "You know, the one that ends with us naked in that hotel room tonight? What if that's the one I pick?"

He sucked in a sharp breath, but he recovered pretty quickly. "If that's the one you pick, I won't say no. I'm not gonna say no to whatever you choose tonight. Like I said, it's your call."

"Hmm," she mused. "I think I see what's really happening here. What you're doing right now," she poked him lightly in his flannel-covered bicep, "isn't that much different than what I tried to do at the courthouse a couple hours ago."

"What do you mean?" he frowned.

"You're trying to give me an out," Harper smiled back at him. "I tried to do that too. See, if you had told me to get out of that truck at the courthouse and make a run for it, I would've done it. Just like now - if I tell you to sleep in the truck tonight, you'll do it. But you don't really want to, just like I didn't really want to get out of that truck."

She paused there, waiting just long enough for his eyes to flash with the reality of what she'd just said.

"Why skirt around it, Jax?" she called out to him, noting that his chest was rising and falling a little bit more rapidly than before. "Just admit what you really want, since we have to be honest and everything."

His eyes lifted back up to her. "I don't wanna sleep in the truck tonight. And I don't wanna sleep on the floor either."

"That's what I thought. And since _I_ have to be honest," she told him softly. "I should probably tell you that the reason I didn't want to get out of that truck - the _real,_ honest reason - was that I didn't want to leave you _._ I would've left, if that's what you wanted, because I knew that would've made it easier for you. And I knew, instinctively, that if I left, that wouldn't have ended well for me...but I would've done it if you'd told me to. But, I think, more than anything, I just wanted to stay with you. I still do. You telling me to leave would've been the ultimate rejection, wouldn't it have?"

Jax nodded, some tenderness filling his eyes now. "I knew it too - what would've happened to you if I'd told you to leave at the courthouse. But I didn't wanna let you go either."

"You mean you wanted Selena Beverheusen to stay?"

He barked out a laugh, rubbing a hand over his mouth. "I don't believe I've been formally introduced to her yet."

"We'll have to remedy that," she mused with a smile. "But seriously, Jax, when I went to get coffee before we left for the chapel, and when you thought I'd left...the thought never even crossed my mind."

He nodded slowly, pushing a deep sigh. "When I woke up and you were gone, I was so fucking scared I couldn't see straight. I can't remember the last time I was that scared, that goddamn panicked...and that's really saying something, considering, you know -"

"Your outlaw, one-percenter lifestyle?" Harper offered lightly.

"Exactly," he laughed. "Hey, speaking of that - how in the _fuck_ do you know about that?"

Harper just lifted a shoulder. "I was in Lodi a few years ago on the hunt for this super-cute, super-off market Dolce & Gabbana crocodile handbag, and I saw some Mexican bikers riding around town the same way you and all your Samcro buddies do."

Even his eyes narrowed a little at that, his lips still quirked up into a smirk as he folded his arms across his chest. "Alright. Those were the Mayans, by the way."

"Hmm," she tilted her head to the side again in thought. "Are they good bikers or bad bikers?"

Jax just huffed out a laugh. "This isn't the _Wizard of Oz_ , princess."

She rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head. "I _know_ that. Let me rephrase: are you friends with them or do you fight with them?"

"Depends on your definition of _fight_ ," he just lifted a shoulder, but when he saw her huff of exasperation, he held up his hands with a laugh. "Alright, alright. We get along with them, most of the time. So you saw some Mayans ridin' around. Then what?"

"And then," she just shrugged. "I saw that one-percenter patch on the back of their kuttes, so I googled it."

"You googled it," he repeated slowly, almost as if he wasn't quite sure he'd heard her right.

"Yeah. Google has all the answers, you know."

"Huh. And what did Google say?"

"Google said that, basically, 99 percent of bikers are law-abiding civilians, and the other one-percent are outlaws, and decidedly _not_ law-abiding civilians. Which, I have to say, it's interesting that you'd advertise it like that. Kinda like putting a target on your back, isn't it?"

His lips quirked again. "So when you figured out what that one-percenter patch meant, from Google, you weren't…"

"I wasn't, what?" Harper tossed out lightly. "Scared?"

Jax shoved his free hand in his pocket now, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly. "Sure. That works."

"Honestly, it sparked a lot of questions about Tommy, but we don't have to talk about that right now, especially since a lot of those questions got answered for me last night. But was I scared? Not particularly. I'd tell you about the time I escaped from a Guadalajaran drug lord's trunk by bribing him with sex, but I have a feeling you won't believe me, even though we've _both_ agreed to trust each other to tell the truth right now. But whatever."

Now, he lifted his hand out of his pocket so he could scrub his fingers across his lips, his eyes fixed on a crack in the pavement at his feet while he mulled all that over. Then his eyes flicked back up to her with some amusement flashing in them.

"So you bribed a Guadalajaran drug lord with sex? Did you _actually_ have sex with the guy?"

"So you _actually_ believe me?"

Jax huffed out a laugh. "I didn't say that. I just wanted to see how far you're willin' to take this, princess."

"I will have you know," Harper sniffed, "that Joaquin was a consummate gentleman. Until he ran out of money. Then he changed his tune pretty quickly."

His jaw worked around an amused grin, but after a few moments, as that lightness faded away, he swallowed hard, his eyes turning serious again. "What I was really tryin' to tell you, Harper, is that waking up in our hotel room before, when I realized you were gone, I think I panicked for a lot of reasons - but the main ones weren't obvious to me until it was all said and done. My first knee-jerk reaction was that I knew what was going to happen to you if you left, and if you left like _that,_ and I knew I wouldn't be able to talk the club out of it and that scared the shit outta me. And then I think I just panicked because you'd left...just that you'd _left_ and I wanted you to stay and that scared the shit outta me too."

"I was always coming back, Jax."

He considered that for a moment, flicking his spent cigarette into the rain. When she did the same, he immediately reached into his kutte again for his cigarette pack, repeating their little ritual now as he handed her another one and lit it for her before lighting one up for himself.

"So," Jax finally called out to her. "Are you sayin' you kinda wanna _stay_ with me, princess?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "That's what I'm saying. And since I gotta be honest, I should probably let you know that I wanna do _more_ than just stay with you. This feels real _,_ and I think it feels real to us because it _is_."

His eyes flicked up from the pavement to meet her right in the eye. "I think so too."

"Hmm mm," she hummed, taking a brave step closer to him. She didn't miss the way he shifted his weight so his right hip almost brushed against her, like he just wanted to be closer to her. "And I'm sure the next thing you're gonna ask me is if I really wanna complicate a situation that's already pretty complicated. Right? That was your next question?"

She waited long enough to see him nod tightly before charging ahead, spurred on by the knowledge that what she felt, _he_ was feeling too. That what she wanted, _he_ wanted too. He clearly wasn't going to put any pressure on her, and because of that, and everything he'd already done today, how could she _not_ want him? How could she not want _this_ with a man who was already her husband, and who'd already staked his claim on her as his old lady?

"You remember how I said I tend to stick around long enough to see what I'm working with and when I've seen enough, I move on?"

Jax swallowed hard, narrowing his eyes just a little more intently than they were before. "Yeah. I remember."

"Well," she smiled softly, flicking some ash nonchalantly from her cigarette. "I've seen enough from you to know what I'm working with, and I don't wanna move on. It might seem like not enough time has passed, at least to you, but I've seen plenty in the last 24 hours to know that I trust you with my life. And believe me, Jax, that trust is hard to come by. I don't give that to just anyone because I don't have to - I can pick up and leave whenever I want, because that's just what I do. And see, the crazy thing is that...for the first time in my life, I sort of _can't_ just pick up and leave whenever I want, but I don't _want_ to either."

His forehead crinkled a little in thought, but his eyes stayed right on the pavement, like he just wasn't quite ready to face her yet.

"What you did for me today, Jax...you saved my life. You did. I'm not going to discount that, and you shouldn't either. And I think what you're worried about right now is that my feelings for you are tied up in that, right? That me being grateful to you for saving my life is muddying up what I'm really feeling and anything I do and say right now is just because I'm caught up in that?"

Jax shifted his weight, and nodded tightly, his eyes still fixed ahead of him. But he'd told her to be honest with him, so she decided to give him that.

"I think some of that is true."

He winced a little as her words hit home, but all that did was reinforce what she already knew.

"But when you step back and really look at it, Jax...how could I _not_? How could I _not_ want you after all this? I really did think you were a massive asshole up until last night, but you've been showing me every second since then that that's just not true. You're a _good_ man, Jax. With a really good heart. Who's willing to sacrifice for other people. To protect them at any cost. To do whatever it takes to keep them safe. I've never...I've never really had anyone in my life who was willing to sacrifice like that for me, to _protect_ me like that, and without you even really caring what the repercussions might be for you. You just did it. Look at everything you just said to me - my heart just about exploded when you told me my life and my safety were precious to you. I'd have to be a robot not to fall for you after all this. Because I _am_ , Jax. I really am."

And saying that out loud...she didn't realize how _true_ those words were until she said them. Maybe her feelings, at least some of them, really were tied up in everything he'd done for her today, but she was okay with that. There was some real, honest romance in the way he'd selflessly taken responsibility for her, driven her to Reno, and married her to save her life. And she'd just be lying if she tried to convince either of them that she _hadn't_ gotten swept away in it because she had. And that was okay too.

This sexy, blonde biker man married her to save her life, so she was going to take that God-given gift for what it was and not ask stupid questions or play stupid games. She was just going to accept that man as her husband.

It actually seemed pretty simple to her now.

"So am I grateful to you for saving my life, Jax? Of course I am. I'll never _stop_ being grateful to you for that. But are the reasons why I don't want you to sleep on the floor tonight tied to my gratefulness? No. Absolutely not."

She paused there, giving him a moment to really let that sink in.

"I don't want you to sleep on the floor tonight because I want to _be_ with you, Jax. Because my feelings for you are very real, and those feelings also mean I'm wildly attracted to you in more ways than I probably know right now, and since I have to be honest, that also means I want to sleep with you too - and I don't just mean sleeping on the floor with you. And trust me, that has nothing to do with being grateful."

His mouth lifted at the corners, but he kept his eyes at his feet.

"I know I can _count_ on you," she went on softly. "More than I've ever been able to count on anyone - and that just makes me want to be with you even more. I know it's crazy and that it doesn't make a lot of sense to anyone on the outside looking in, but maybe that's why I trust it, you know?"

Jax sucked in a shaky breath, and when he brought his cigarette back up to his lips, she noticed that his fingers were trembling.

"Neither of us planned on this," she went on. "And I certainly didn't plan on feeling the way I did when we stood at that altar and said vows and made promises to each other. Because we did, didn't we?"

His lips quirked up at the corners, and finally, his eyes drifted over to her, softening on impact. "Yeah. I think we did."

"I was thinking about what she said - our officiant - about the promises we've already made to each other...and we _did_ that without even realizing what we were doing. You promised not to let anything happen to me, and I promised not to make a run for it."

When that smile on his face only deepened, she reached out with her free hand and slipped it inside his much larger, calloused one. He squeezed his fingers around hers, and winked at her.

"So," she grinned, biting down on her bottom lip to give herself a moment to really enjoy this. "I think the way we make a complicated situation more complicated is by pretending like all this didn't happen today and that we're really not feeling what we're feeling. I mean, we're already married, right? And if you slept on the floor tonight, we'd _also_ be denying ourselves a wedding night, and I don't know about you, but I think I kinda want a wedding night."

And as his lips curved up into that sexy smirk, that was quickly becoming one of her favorite things in the world, she knew the way was clear now. She knew when to cut and run - it was a well-honed skill that she'd cultivated through years of crazy adventures, island-hopping, a trail of men who, when they'd served their purpose, she bailed on, and narrowly escaping by the skin of her teeth when she had to.

 _This_ was not the time to cut and run. She just knew it in her bones. That instinct had never failed her before, and she didn't believe it would fail her now.

Jax swallowed hard, and squeezed her fingers. "Are you sure? Us agreeing that we feel somethin' real for each other, you bein' my old lady now, us bein' married now...that doesn't have to mean anything for later tonight. We can just sleep, Harper, and then we can go back to Charming tomorrow and see where that takes us. I'm really okay with that."

Her feelings on _that_ were simple and absolute.

"I don't want to pretend with you, Jax, and I don't want to play games either," she whispered to him with a soft smile. "And if you sleep on the floor tonight, we'd just be pretending, and we'd just be playing games neither of us really want to play."

"I think you might be right about that."

"And since I gotta be honest," she smiled. "I should probably tell you that I think we got married for _real_ today. We took vows and made each other promises that meant something, even if we didn't know it until we said it. I meant the things I said at that altar today. Did you?"

He squeezed her hand again, nodding to himself before his navy blue eyes flicked back up to her. "Yeah. I did."

Harper bit down on her bottom lip to try to hide her smile, but he'd already sent his cigarette flying through the air and was closing a hand around her face to pull her in closer.

"So, lemme make sure I have this right," he murmured, and her heart pounded in her chest. "We're _married_."

"Yeah," she whispered back with a smile.

"To each other."

"Yeah."

Jax's lips slipped into that smirk again. "For _real_."

"Uh huh. And I -"

His lips caught whatever she'd been about to say next.

* * *

"Bullshit, princess."

"Oh, come on. I'm _not_ lying."

"Yes, you are," Jax jabbed a finger at her, even as he dove for another piece of pizza with his other hand. "There's no way - _no way_ you were picked up by the Thai police on New Year's last year. _No_ fucking way. You're just blatantly lying to my face right now. You know that, right?"

"I'm not! I had to sweet-talk the embassy's lawyer to get me a new passport before midnight or else I was gonna be in some serious effing trouble."

He dropped the piece of pizza in his hand and cocked an eyebrow at her. "Prove it."

"How am I supposed to prove something like that?" Harper shrugged helplessly. "And why is it so hard for you to just believe me?"

Jax eyed her with some amusement before sweeping his pizza back up in his hand and taking a big bite. "I'm not gonna touch that one right now."

"Mmkay. Thanks for the vote of confidence. Really appreciate it, _honey."_

"Oh, you know it, _babe_ ," he winked.

She just rolled her eyes at him, but when he pushed up the sleeves on his flannel shirt, some dark ink on his right forearm got her attention. So he _did_ have tattoos...very interesting. She tapped a finger to her lips in thought, and then tapped her left hand to his forearm to get a better look at his ink.

That got his attention, and he glanced down at his forearm before lifting an eyebrow at her. "See somethin' you like, princess?"

" _Yes_."

"Uh huh," he grinned, and he obliged her, rolling up his sleeve so she could see the full length of the tattoo on his forearm, but his eyes never left hers. That spark between them, which was now becoming more and more familiar every time he set his eyes on her...it momentarily distracted her from this very important task.

She tapped a finger to her lips again, smiling when he just laughed, and then she dropped that finger to the dark ink on his skin, gently tracing the intricate gravestone with the name _John Teller_ , the spiky branches, the crescent moon, the crows, the skull, and finally tracing over the words _In Memory Of_ right below his elbow. It was as impressive as it was beautiful, and just one more reminder that his great big heart was just as breathtaking as the rest of him.

"How long has he been gone - your dad?" she murmured, her eyes and her finger still tracing the ink on his skin.

"About 17 years."

"Hmm," she hummed softly. "And you miss him."

Jax's mouth curved up into a wistful grin. "Every single day."

Now, her fingers drifted up the length of his arm, and she smiled a little at the feel of those sinewy muscles underneath her fingertips, but kept them moving over his shoulder before resting them against his cheek. His lips curled up at her soft touch, and he leaned his face into it, letting her give him this care and this comfort, even if it was just for a moment.

And just as her fingertips were about to slip away, Jax caught them with his hand, bringing them to his mouth so he could brush his lips against her knuckles.

"He was always the smartest guy in the room," Jax went on softly. "The funniest, too. Everyone just always seemed to gravitate to him...wanted to be around him, wanted to follow him. I think he would've really loved you - you two probably would've been thick as thieves, gettin' into trouble together, laughin' together...everyone would've _really_ had to watch their backs and their valuables then."

Her lips curled up at the corners, and her heart squeezed tight. "I'm sorry I never got to meet him, but I have a feeling he was a lot like you."

"He always used to tell me, _the true outlaw finds the balance between the passion in his heart and the reason in his mind. His solution is always an equal mix of might and right_ …I think about that all the time. Hear his voice in my head all the time. I guess I'm always carrying him with me that way, you know?"

Her mouth curved as she tilted her head pensively to the side. "He sounds like he was a good man. Just like you."

Jax huffed out a laugh, dropping his hand to her thigh. "You keep sayin' that, princess, but I'm starting to get the feeling we've got different definitions of what that means."

"I don't know about that."

"Sure," he shrugged. "But it's just interesting to me that you think I'm good - even after what you saw last night in the parking lot. _And_ ," he tapped the Men of Mayhem patch sewn into his kutte right underneath his vice president patch, "you don't even know what _this_ means."

She leaned an elbow on the bartop so she could rest her chin in her palm. "And what does that mean?"

Suddenly, Jax's lips were against her ear, and she shivered a little at the contact. "It means that what you saw in the parking lot last night? I've done that before when the club needed me to," then he pulled back so he could look her in the eye, "Multiple times. And without a second thought."

"Oh, I see what you're doing," she grinned, poking him in the chest. "You're trying to scare me away now. First, you tried to give me an out by saying you'd sleep in the truck tonight, and now you're trying to scare me into thinking you're this big, bad biker guy who does really big, bad, terrible things. Right?"

"I'm not tryin' to scare you, Harper. But being with me...there's some real danger attached to that. I just wanna make sure you know what you're really gettin' into with me."

Harper scrunched up her nose playfully. "Little late for that, don't ya think?"

"Maybe," he huffed out a laugh and shook his head, then he took a drink from his cocktail glass, holding the straw down over the lip like all tough guys do. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it."

"Uh huh," she nodded into her palm with a knowing grin. "That's true. But I have a pretty good idea of what I got myself into. I saw what you did in the parking lot and wanted to be with you anyway, didn't I? And let's be honest, if you _hadn't_ done that last night, we wouldn't be sitting here, would we?"

Jax bit down on his bottom lip, his eyes narrowing down at the pizza in front of him in thought. Finally, his navy blue eyes flicked back up to her. "I guess you're right. Maybe everything happens for a reason, huh?"

"I'll say," she grinned, and then tipped her chin to him. " _But_ that being said, I want to make you aware that _I'm_ aware that you have a reputation."

"A reputation?"

"Uh huh. With women."

He tipped his head back with a laugh and wagged a finger at her. "You know somethin', princess? I'm kinda surprised it took you so long to bring this up."

"Well, regardless, I'm bringing it up."

"Sure," he grinned, clearly finding all this a lot more amusing than she did. "And I want to make you aware that _I'm_ aware that cheating is a deal-breaker for you. I'm well aware why you broke things off with the guy before me - because you _told_ me, and if it wasn't crystal clear where you stand, it was pretty damn clear when you told Tommy there was no way Willa would ever believe things were real between us if I hooked up with some girl in the clubhouse and you _didn't_ kick me to the curb. So I understand your feelings on that particular subject."

"Okay," she narrowed her eyes at him a little.

"And if I remember right, I stood up at that altar today and promised you I'd be faithful, didn't I?"

"You did," Harper allowed slowly.

Jax just flashed her a wide grin. "And we've already established that those vows we took, those promises we made...that meant something to us, and we meant those things when we said them."

"Right."

"And when I promised you I'd be faithful to you, I meant it. Still do, princess."

"Hmm," she mused, tilted her head to the side as she turned all that over, to process it, and to find the truth in his words. "So you're telling me that you're really okay with becoming a one-woman man...just like that?"

"Well," he lifted a shoulder, but followed that up by dropping his hand to her thigh. "The way I see it, I can't pick and choose which of those promises I wanna honor, and which ones I don't. And since we're married, for _real_ , I have to honor _all_ the promises I made, or else this doesn't work. And I want it to work. And the last thing I'd ever wanna do is hurt you. I'm a man of my word, Harper. You should know that about me if you don't already."

"Alright," she smiled softly. "Just so you know, I have to honor all the promises I made to you too."

"That's right," Jax flashed her another grin before leaning in to murmur in her ear, "and just so _you_ know, I gotta feeling that when we get back to that hotel room tonight, and I finally get inside you...I gotta feeling I'm never gonna want anyone but you ever again, so all this is irrelevant anyway, babe."

For a moment, anything she might've said died on her lips as his hand slipped up her knee to skim underneath the hem of her dress, just to reiterate his point.

"You got any more questions for me right now," Jax whispered against her lips. "Or can we move on with our night?"

"Actually, I do."

He cocked an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to unleash on him with something else that was serious and heavy...but that was the big one for her, and he'd answered correctly.

"You got any more tattoos, _honey_?"

His lips twisted into that sexy smirk, and he nodded to her, shifting his weight in his barstool so he could pull up the flannel sleeve on his left arm, flashing her yet another intricate tattoo on his forearm. This time, the name _Opie_ ran along the length of his forearm in a pretty, old-fashioned script that surprised her.

He rested his forearm on the bartop so she could get a better look at it, and she resumed her previous ministrations, tracing the letters with her fingertips in thought. When she glanced up at him, she found his eyes staring down at the tattoo, with some new sadness, some new devastation, and she knew, instinctively, that now wasn't the right time to talk about it.

"Do you have any other tattoos I should know about?"

His lips lifted at the corners, grateful for the change of subject, and he tipped his chin to her. "That I do. I've got the Reaper on my back."

"What do you mean?" she frowned. "Like the _grim_ reaper?"

"No," he laughed, gesturing to the back of his kutte. "The Sons' Reaper."

She tapped a hand to his shoulder, glancing around him to get another look at the Sons of Anarchy emblem stitched onto the back of his leather kutte. "So…"

"All the club members get it when they're patched in," he explained. "It took a good 10 hours or so and a half a bottle of whiskey, but I got it."

"Wait a minute," she frowned again. "You mean...you have this _whole_ thing - _all_ of it - tattooed on your back?"

He just smirked at her. "Yep."

"Nuh uh. You're lying."

Jax playfully wagged a finger in her face. "Now why would I lie about a thing like that? That'd be a pretty stupid thing to lie about."

She eyed him warily, still unconvinced, until he tipped his chin to her with that lop-sided smirk curving up the side of his handsome face.

"Go on," he grinned, gesturing behind him with his head. "See for yourself if you don't believe me," and then he leaned in to murmur in her ear, "I _triple-_ dog dare you."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but since she was never one to back down from a dare either, her hands travelled down to his waist, gently tugging up his flannel shirt and moving aside that leather kutte until she caught a glimpse of smooth, tanned skin and dark ink that looked exactly like the bottom half of the emblem on his kutte. And because she just couldn't help herself, she let her fingertips linger on the exposed skin she found there, tracing the space between where the ink ended and the waistband on his white boxers began.

Jax glanced at her from over his shoulder, his eyes darkening with some new heat that hadn't been there before, and she took that as a sign to keep going, to test the waters and to explore a little bit more of this man she'd married today. Her fingertips slid around the curve of his hip, tiptoeing across his skin, and she bit down on her bottom lip when that skin jumped a little underneath her touch. She let her fingertips drift along his taut stomach, drawing a gentle line along the edge of the front of his boxers, before withdrawing her hand and making a little show of rearranging his flannel shirt so he was all covered up again.

He sat there for a few moments, with his elbows resting on the bartop, his shoulders hunched a little, and his chest rising and falling against his leather kutte, until he finally turned his head to face her with molten blue eyes.

"So about that hotel room," he smirked. "You got any thoughts on when we'll be headed over there tonight?"

"Hmm," she pulled her lips to the side of her mouth in thought, and then leaned closer so she could brush her lips against his mouth. "You know what I was thinking?"

"What's that, princess?"

"I was thinking," Harper grinned at him. "This is technically our wedding day, isn't it?"

Jax's mouth curled up in a lop-sided smile. "Yeah. It is."

"And we only get one of those."

"That's right."

"And," she leaned in again to press her lips against his. "I was thinking we should enjoy it. Take our time with it, and not rush through it."

"That sounds like a pretty good idea," he smiled. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, we're already having our reception dinner," she gestured to the pizza and drinks in front of them. "But I think it's okay to plan on not having a plan tonight and to just...see where the night takes us. I mean, we know how it's going to _end_ , but we can have some fun with how we get there, can't we?"

He tipped his chin to her, shifting in his barstool so he could lift up his hand and brush his knuckles against her cheek. "We can."

"I just have _one_ request though."

"What's that?" he grinned.

"One dance. Somehow, someway," Harper bit down on her bottom lip to hide her smile. "Just _one._ It can be a slow one - actually, I think it _should_ be a slow one. But I just want one dance with you before the night is over."

Jax leaned forward, holding a hand out for her to shake. "Deal."

"Deal," she grinned as she slid her hand inside his.

"So, now," he told her, entwining their fingers together on top of the bar. "I have a very important question for you - do _you_ have any thoughts on gettin' some ink any time soon?"

"Oh, I have some already," she told him easily, laughing at the way that cocky smirk on his face slipped a little.

"No shit, huh?" he rubbed his mouth in thought, a sly grin crossing his face. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that ink is somewhere you typically hide under your clothes?"

She narrowed her eyes at him a little, and decided to beat him at his own game. "Not always. You probably just haven't noticed yet because I usually wear my hair down."

When he just frowned at her, clearly not catching her drift, she gestured with her head over her shoulder, mimicking his gestures from before.

"Go on," Harper told him with a sly grin. "See for yourself if you don't believe me. I _triple_ -dog dare you."

His lips lifted at that, but he didn't hesitate, untangling their fingers so he could lift his hand up to her shoulders, sweeping her wet hair and her wet veil away from her neck. She obliged him, turning around so he could get a better look at the base of her neck. Then he took it one step further as he gently tugged her zipper down just an inch or two to expose the black ink there.

"That better not be what I think it is, princess," he tsked at her.

"It is."

" _No_."

"What's so terrible about it?"

His shoulders started to shake with laughter even as he gently moved her zipper, her hair, and her veil back in its spot, and then he ran a hand over his face before daring a glance at her with an amused grin. "Come on. Really? A Chinese symbol tattoo? What does that shit even mean?"

"Well, first of all," she stuck her tongue out at him. "It's not Chinese, it's _Mandarin_ , thank you very much."

His hands immediately shot up in the air, his shoulders shaking with laughter again. "My bad. And what does it mean?"

"I _thought_ it meant freedom."

Jax rubbed a hand over his mouth again to hide his shit-eating grin. "So what does it _really_ mean?"

She exhaled exasperatedly before lifting her eyes to the ceiling. "I was fifteen, okay? I _clearly_ didn't know any better and _clearly_ should've triple-checked the translation, although in hindsight there's not much I could've done because that tattoo artist was always gonna do what he was gonna do."

"You were _fifteen_ when you got that tat?" he raised his eyebrows now, but he looked just as impressed as he was amused by all this right now.

"I had a fake ID," she just lifted a shoulder. "So what? You can't tell me you're _really_ all that surprised anyway."

"Not about the fake ID," he laughed. "That makes perfect sense, actually."

Harper narrowed her eyes at him playfully, poking him in the shoulder again. "So lemme get this straight. You'll believe that I got a tattoo when I was fifteen with a fake ID, but you _won't_ believe I escaped a Guatalajaran drug lord's trunk by bribing him with sex?"

Jax barked out a laugh, and he just shook his head at her. "I think the answer's in the question. Of _course_ I believe you got a tattoo when you were fifteen with a fake because it's crazy, sure, but it also sounds like something a fifteen-year-old with a fake might actually do, especially if that fifteen-year-old is you. And of _course_ I'm not gonna believe you escaped a Guatalajaran drug lord's trunk by bribing him with sex because that's just fucking insane, and no sane person would actually believe that. Besides," he grinned as he dropped a hand to her thigh and slipped it right underneath the hem of her white dress, "maybe I just don't like the idea of you bribing some guy with sex."

"Oh, I see," she informed him snidely. "You put a ring on it and suddenly you think you can go all macho-possessive on me?"

"Something like that, yeah," Jax smirked, sliding his fingertips just a little bit further underneath her dress now, cocking an eyebrow suggestively at her when she sucked in a shaky breath. "I think puttin' a ring on it gives me that right."

She just rolled her eyes at him, despite the fact that the warmth on her thigh was warming her in a lot of other places too. "Whatever."

"So," he tipped his chin to her again with another smirk. "The tat, princess. What does it really mean? Come on, you can tell me. I won't make fun of you."

"You absolutely _will_ make fun of me, but I don't care," Harper lifted her chin defiantly. "It really means _illiterate tourist_."

Jax's eyes widened, and his entire body seemed to still, like he hadn't quite heard her right. "No."

"Yes," she sniffed.

" _No._ "

She didn't even have a chance to respond because his entire body seemed to convulse in a fit of laughter, and he dove forward on the bar, burying his face in his hands as his shoulders shook against the bar. He was still laughing at her when the bartender brought them another round of drinks, and _still_ laughing at her when she decided she'd had just about enough of him and grabbed a piece of pizza in an effort to ignore him.

"Aw, shit," Jax pushed out in between yet another fit of laughter and he wiped a tear from his eye. "I can't believe this. I can't _fucking_ believe this."

"Yeah, yeah," she threw out sarcastically. "Laugh it up, _honey_."

"I'm sorry," he held his hands up, even though he was _still_ laughing at her. "I'm sorry. I just can't fucking believe I married someone who has _illiterate tourist_ tattooed in Mandarin on the back of her neck. That's just...that's probably exactly what I deserve. But hey, ya know what? I can have Hap fix it for you when we get back to town if you want - he does all our ink in the club, and he can do yours too."

"Why would I wanna fix it? I think it's pretty perfect the way it is."

His laughter finally faded away as he leaned up against the bartop on his elbows, regarding her with some tenderness in his eyes that surprised her. "Yeah. I think so too."

"Besides, if I _wanted_ to fix it, don't you think I would've done that years ago?"

Jax's head bobbed from side to side as he mulled that one over. "This is true."

"And I'm sure you can imagine how absolutely thrilled my parents were by my little stunt, especially after I figured out it didn't exactly mean what I thought it meant."

"Yeah, I bet."

"You know, I think part of me was a little bit happy I got the translation all screwed up - my dad just about went through the roof, and that just made it even worse. Of course, it didn't help that Willa had literally just made the honor roll, like, two days before that for, like, the tenth year in a row. And then I came home from a vacation with my friend's family in Singapore with a neck tattoo that said _illiterate tourist_ in Mandarin. He was not impressed, to say the least, and I didn't really care that much either. "

He nodded knowingly, leaning in again to press his hand into her thigh. "Ah. So it was more about little fifteen-year-old Harper acting out than anything, huh?"

"Pretty much," she shrugged. "After a certain point, when everyone expects you to act a certain way and be a certain way, it's easier to just be the thing everyone thinks you are, you know?"

Jax considered that for a moment, his eyes softening. "So you leaned into the bad sister versus the good sister thing."

"I don't know," she shrugged again, smiling a little when his hand drifted away from her thigh, travelling up her side, then her shoulder, before finally resting on her neck so he could brush his thumb on her cheek. "I guess I just always felt like an outlier in my own family...like I was this big, glaringly obvious mistake of their genes, and then they just had to live with the mistake. I figured, if I didn't fit, if I wasn't like them, then that was okay. So, I decided to just own the fact that I was different from what they wanted, and just did whatever I wanted, however I wanted."

His thumb touched her bottom lip, and then he leaned closer so he could press his lips there instead.

"You're kind of a force of nature," he murmured against her lips. "Everything about you is a little outrageous, and a little unbelievable, and more than a little bit fucking insane - I mean, _who_ walks down the aisle to the _Monster Mash_?"

"I did," she smiled into his kiss.

"That's right," he whispered. "You did. And you wanna know somethin', princess? I wouldn't change a thing about you. Not one thing. Tall tales and all."

"They're _not_ tall tales."

"Whatever you say," Jax smiled. "But I _do_ know I'll never be bored with you around, that's for damn sure. And I don't think I'd want it any other way."

"Well, that's good because I've got some legal paperwork in my purse that says you kinda _have_ to keep me around."

"That's right," he laughed, reaching out to tangle their fingers together again so he could bring her knuckles up to his lips. "I do. And that goes the other way, you know. You kinda _have_ to keep me around too."

"That's right," she smiled. "I do."

"So, it's our wedding day. We've had a few drinks, we've had our dinner. What do we do now?"

Harper tilted her head to the side in thought, her eyes flashing at him when a brilliant idea came to her. "How would you feel about me spending some of your money at the craps table?"

Jax was still laughing even as he tipped his chin to the bartender for their bill.

"Alright, babe. The casino it is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - Happy Sunday! Well, that took a turn, didn't it? When I was writing this, I hadn't planned on any of this happening so quickly, but it just felt right, given their circumstances - these are two people who know what they want and they're not going to play games to get it. Because of that, this is also why I've got just one chapter left to wrap this up. After chapter ten, most of their issues, in terms of their relationship, will be resolved already, and while there's still plenty of story to tell, I'm going to leave it at chapter ten for now (that also gives me plenty to come back to later).
> 
> In case you missed it, I've been working on a new story, which is also part of the reason why I decided to wrap this one up at chapter ten. The new story will take Witness Protection's spot in my Sunday posting schedule, so you can look for the first chapter of Lost and Found the week after this story's last update.
> 
> For this new story, I did something I've never done in a story before - started right at the beginning when Jax and the OC meet when they're ten years old, and then worked my through their friendship (and eventual romance) all through high school. The first eight chapters are flashbacks to show their history, and then in chapter nine - the chapter I'm in the middle of writing right now - it jumps ahead to "present time" again when the characters are reunited. Those are my favorite kinds of romances - the ones where the main characters were best friends as children, fell in love as teenagers, were separated for some reason, and are then reunited after many years and have to deal whatever it was that separated them as adults. So, I'm doing that!
> 
> If you're interested, here's the summary:
> 
> Dylan Shaw hasn't stepped foot in Charming in 13 years, but when Samcro's VP is arrested on murder charges, she's drawn back into the fold, and on assignment to write a profile on the accused murderer. She lost her heart the last time she was in town, and now, she'll find that the ghosts lurking around aren't so dead and buried, and that accused murderer might not be as guilty as he looks.
> 
> Anyway, you can look for the first update of this new story the week after Witness Protection ends. So, that leaves us with one more chapter of this story - thoughts on the way their relationship has shifted? As always, thank you for reading!


	10. Chapter Ten

"Come on, princess, just blow on it."

Harper stared him down with her hands on her hips. "Why should I? You know it's not gonna help you. You're a loser. Literally, Jax. A _loser_."

"Aw, come on," he grinned, wrapping an arm around her waist to draw her against his hip. "Just once? Maybe you've got the magic touch."

"Wouldn't you like to know," she muttered under her breath.

He just lifted his eyebrows suggestively at her, tightening his grip around her hip, and she rolled her eyes all the way up to the neon lights in the high ceilings of the Club Cal-Neva casino. But at this point, she was also acutely aware that the dealer was practically tapping his foot in impatience.

"Alright, alright."

With that, she leaned forward, and blew on the dice in Jax's outstretched hand. He shot her a playful grin, shook the dice in his right hand, wound up, and let them fly across the table.

"Come on, come on," Jax murmured. "Gimme a seven, baby."

The dice bounced off the edge of the table, twisted and turned and turned - one finally landed on a three, with the other one still turning and turning.

"Oh, shit, it's gonna -" Jax burst out, and grabbed onto Harper's arm in excitement. "It's gonna…" and then the second die landed on a two, "Aw, shit! Goddammit! I really thought I had it that time."

"I told you," she just shook her head. "You're a loser."

Jax ran a hand through his hair exasperatedly and smacked his hands on the edge of the craps table. "This fucking sucks. I _hate_ this game."

"How much money have we lost now?"

He shot her a wary glance, even as he snaked a hand around her waist again to draw her in against his hip. "I don't wanna say it out loud."

Harper just rolled her eyes at him as the dealer tipped his chin to them, signalling it was time to place a bet. She cocked an eyebrow at Jax, silently asking him what he wanted to do, and he just gestured to the table with his left hand, wedding ring and all. Seeing as how their chips were quickly dwindling, thanks to Jax's never-ending bad luck, she decided to just go for it. What did they really have to lose at this point?

She winked at him, and then pushed the rest of their chips toward the center of the table to place their bet.

Suddenly, his warm breath tickled her ear, making her shiver even more when he boxed her in against the craps table with one arm on either side of her and his chin resting on her shoulder.

She turned her head just enough to touch her lips to his cheek, "Watch and learn, _honey_."

With that, she shook the dice in her hand, wound up, and let them fly across the table, bracing for the inevitable.

"Come on, come on," Jax murmured in her ear. "Oh, shit, it's gonna…"

The first die fell on a two, and then a moment later, the second die landed on a five.

" _Yeesss!_ " Jax roared in her ear, his arms momentarily leaving her as he lifted his fists high in the air in victory. " _Wooo!_ Seven...fucking seven!"

Then his arms locked around her waist to hoist her up into the air, so she just rolled with it - and gave in to the moment he'd pulled her in. She found herself doing that a lot with him, giving in to the moment and letting go of her control, of her tendency to slip into self-preservation mode, and just being in the moment with _him_. She wasn't planning her next move or looking for the exit. She was _here_ , with _him_ , and loving every second of it.

She barely had a chance to get her bearings back when he set her down on the ground again because his lips crashed into hers, claiming them like _she_ was the prize, and he slipped his tongue through her parted lips just long enough to give her another taste of what was waiting for her later tonight.

God, she couldn't effing _wait_. She had half a mind to just grab his hand right now and take off sprinting for their hotel.

But this was their wedding day. They were _married_ now. And tonight was the night to get to know each other a little better, and just enjoy the ride - like Jax had told her earlier when they'd stood outside underneath that teeny tiny awning, smoking their cigarettes together, and laying their cards on the table.

Their wedding night could wait until later tonight.

For now, she just wanted to have some fun with her husband.

That last thought made her lips curl at the corners, and she leaned into him again, wrapping her arms around his neck even as he bent forward to collect their winnings. They stood there like that at the craps table, putting their bets down as the other gamblers at the table took their turns rolling, with Harper's arm wrapped around Jax neck, and his arm snaked around her waist, until it was Jax's turn to roll again.

He lifted an eyebrow at her with a cocky smirk, and all she could do was just shake her head. She knew exactly what he was going to do - a moment later, he pushed their remaining chips to the center of the table.

"I don't know," Harper tsked at him. "We're gonna lose all your money because you have terrible luck, _honey_."

"Oh, I don't know about that, _babe_ ," he smirked.

Jax didn't miss a beat, pressing a quick kiss into her cheek, and then he sent the dice flying down the table with the exact kind of bravado and cocky swagger she'd come to expect from him. He needed a seven or an eleven to win, and true to form, the loser rolled a six.

"Nooo!" he pushed out, slamming a fist against the table. "Fuck! Goddammit, I hate this game!"

Harper shot the dealer a placating smile at the dealer, who looked about ready to reach across the table and either punch Jax or strangle him. Then she wrapped an arm around Jax's neck to bring him in closer.

" _Honey_ , you need to get a hold of yourself before you get us kicked out of here," she murmured in his ear as she gently pulled him away from the table. "Let's check out the slots, huh? Maybe we can do less damage there."

"You're right, you're right," Jax grinned, waving brightly to the dealer and the rest of the gamblers, who were more amused by the whole thing than anything. "I apologize. As you can see," he gestured to Harper, before gently lifting up the veil on her head, "I just got married today and I got a little carried away. I'd say I'd buy you all a round of drinks, but I'm runnin' outta money. So sorry 'bout that, and have a good night!"

He shot them all one more wave from over his shoulder as he draped an arm around Harper, who by now had to press her face into his shoulder to muffle her laughter.

"I _told_ you you have terrible luck."

"Yeah, well," he murmured in her ear as he steered them to a quieter section of the casino floor. "I don't know what kinda voodoo magic you were workin' at that table, babe, because you won every fuckin' time you rolled. I shoulda just had you roll for me. Then I wouldn't be down $300 right now."

"Well," she just shrugged. "You live and you learn, I guess."

With that, she dropped down into the chair of a particularly awesome-looking slot machine, humming along to the sickly sweet music that played from it. Jax shook his head at her choice, but really, he couldn't have been all that surprised at this point. So, now he had to decide - did he sit down next to her, at this Britney Spears-themed set of slot machines, or did he find something else that _wasn't_ Britney Spears-themed, but would also put some distance between them?

He met her silent challenge without hesitation, and sank down into the chair next to her.

"Didn't know you were a Britney fan," Harper tossed out lightly, dipping into her purse for some cash and handing him some bills, "Here, _honey_ , you need this right now."

Jax just lifted a shoulder, taking the cash from her, feeding a bill into the machine, and hitting a few buttons. "Thanks, _babe_. And I've got nothin' against Britney - hey, look, this thing's got some of her music videos on it...oh yeah, there's the little school girl outfit. Don't mind this at all."

"So that's something you like, huh? The little school girl outfit?"

"Why?" he smirked as he lit up a cigarette and then handed one to her. "You thinkin' about dressin' up for me tonight?"

"No," she laughed. "At least not like a little school girl. That's a fetish I won't indulge, Jax."

"I don't know that it's a fetish," he shrugged again, and then he leaned forward to hold out the flame from his lighter so she could light her cigarette. "Maybe a kink?"

Harper tipped her head back as she laughed. "Is there a difference?"

"Sure," he smirked. "There's a difference - a fetish would be like, if I needed you to wear heels every time we had sex so I could get off. A kink would be like, you wearin' a little school girl outfit every once and awhile just because I think you'd look smokin' hot in one. That's the difference."

"Ah," she laughed, suddenly feeling like she needed to fan herself a little. "Thank you for the sex ed lesson. I definitely learned something today."

"Glad I could help," Jax grinned broadly at her with a wink. "I'm an excellent teacher."

Harper just batted her free hand at him, and shifted her attention back to her slot, hitting a bet, and grinning victoriously at him when she hit the right lines. "Look at that, fedoras for days. I win again!"

"Voodoo magic," Jax wagged a finger at her. "That's what it is."

"You're just jealous."

"Hey, I figured I get to reap the benefits of all your winnings though, right? What's yours is mine, and what's mine is ours? Somethin' like that?"

She smiled snidely at him. " _Is_ that the expression?"

"Pretty sure, _babe_."

"Mmkay," Harper smiled just sweetly enough to let him know there was nothing really sweet about it. "Whatever you say."

She spent the next few minutes singing along to the song playing from their slot machines, getting a little bit louder, and a tiny bit more off-key, purposefully of course, just to needle and poke to get a reaction out of him.

" _Sometimes I run, sometimes I hide, sometimes I'm scared of you,"_ she eyed Jax carefully to gauge his irritation level. When he just cocked an eyebrow her way in amusement, she took it one step further, sliding a little more off-key just because she could.

Just then, a waitress appeared at her side, almost as if someone had sent her other there just to shut Harper up.

"Can I get you two some drinks?" she asked them, and then her eyes lit up when she realized Harper was wearing a veil. "And congratulations, by the way! Where did you have your ceremony? At the Arch or the Antique Angel?"

"Oh, we had a pretty perfect ceremony at the Antique Angel," Harper told her proudly. "Wasn't it, _honey_?"

Jax's lips curled into a sexy smirk, but his eyes softened. "Pretty damn perfect, actually. Hey, you wanna know what song this lovely little lady walked down the aisle to?"

"What's that?" their waitress asked, frowning a little as she glanced between them.

He leaned forward with a shit-eating grin. "The _Monster Mash_."

The waitress's smile slipped just a hair - this was clearly a woman who'd seen and heard it all, working at an aging, neon-lit casino in Reno like she did, but _this_ was something even she had never heard before. Just the way Harper liked it.

"Oh," the waitress recovered quickly and pressed a smile to her face. "Well, that's different."

"It's one of my favorite songs," Harper explained with a completely straight face.

"Oh," the waitress said again. "Okay. So, what can I get you to drink?"

Jax huffed out a laugh, flicking some ash into the tray sitting in between them, and then studied Harper carefully, tapping a finger to chin in thought. "She'll have a...margarita. Strawberry, if you've got it."

She just rolled her eyes at him, and then shifted her attention back to their waitress, who by now was well on her way to losing her patience with them. "And he'll have a Corona, to go with my margarita of course."

"Of course," the waitress smiled tightly, and then turned on her heel to head to the nearest bar to get their drinks.

Harper watched her walk away for a moment before cocking an eyebrow at Jax. "A margarita? Really? That's what you think of me?"

He just threw his hands up in the air, smirking at her as his lips worked around the cigarette in between them. "It was a shot in the dark. My bad, princess. What would you have ordered, then, if I hadn't stepped in like a neanderthal and dared to order for you?"

"Well, if you must know," Harper sniffed. "I appreciate a fine wine more than anything else. A white, preferably, like a nice oaky chardonnay, but I've been dabbling in a few reds as of late. _But_ I do love a bubbly champagne too."

"Ah," he lifted his eyebrows in amusement. "Shoulda known. That's what you brought upstairs that time I was at your parents' house with Tommy, right? When we moved some of that furniture out?"

"You remember that?"

"Of course I remember," Jax grinned. "You were eavesdropping. How could I forget that?"

"I wasn't…" she trailed off when Jax lifted a wary eyebrow at her. "Okay, fine. I was _totally_ eavesdropping. Can you really blame me though?"

"Guess not."

"But that being said," Harper eyed him softly, her heart clenching a little when his blue eyes filled with some tenderness. "That meant a lot to Willa - everything you said to her. Now she thinks you're, like, the best brother-in-law ever. _I_ would've made you work for it a little more, but that's just me."

Jax appraised her with some wariness creeping into his eyes now. "Okay."

"I didn't mean anything bad by that. At least not really," Harper laughed. "Besides, I think Willa is gonna lose her mind when we get home. She had all these grand plans to set up us tonight, and what do you know...she didn't need to do any of that."

He flashed her a megawatt, panty-dropping smirk. "We kinda took care of that ourselves, didn't we?"

"We did," she smiled back at him. "And I have a feeling that had we sat through dinner at Willa and Tommy's house tonight, and tried to play along with her little matchmaking game, we probably would've ended up _really_ hating each other after that."

His jaw worked around an amused grin as he took a long drag from his cigarette. God, he was so effing beautiful it hurt to look at him sometimes. And then she smiled, more to herself than anything - this beautiful man was also her husband now.

"I think you might be right about that," Jax laughed. "You know, Tommy never said anything about that - the first time I ever heard about it was when you mentioned it last night."

"Oh, you mean when you were interrogating me while I was taped to a chair?"

That grin slipped from his lips a little, and he took another long pull from his cigarette, tipping his chin to their waitress when she set their drinks down on the little counter attached to their slot machines, and he dug into his pocket to hand her some cash.

"So, did I do okay with the Corona?" Harper called out to him, eyeing him carefully from her seat.

"The Corona is fine. I'm not too picky about that, if you haven't noticed. Alcohol is alcohol," he shrugged, flashing her a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Jax."

He hit something on the screen in front of him, and then lifted his eyebrows at her nonchalantly, like he was trying to pretend that he didn't really know she was onto him like white on rice. He should know by now that she just didn't miss this kind of thing, and she wasn't afraid to call him out on it either.

"Jax, we can talk about it. We can even laugh about it too if you want. It's really okay."

He cleared his throat, squirming in his seat uncomfortably, and he tore his eyes away from her to lock them back on his screen. "Maybe that's easy for you to say, but if I could go back and handle that moment differently, I would."

"I know," she shrugged easily. "But, in the moment, what else were you supposed to do?"

"I _scared_ you, Harper," Jax's flat voice called out to her, and he sighed heavily. "I made you think I was gonna _hurt_ you. That I was gonna…" he trailed off, wincing like he just couldn't even handle the _thought_ of the rest of that sentence.

"Well," Harper offered. "To be fair, I thought you were gonna...do that long after I was taped up in that office anyway, so what difference does it make?"

He blew out another heavy sigh, and scrubbed a hand over his face before finally dragging his eyes over to her. "I just wish you hadn't had to go through that. I don't even wanna think about how fuckin' scared you must've been all that time we were in my dorm, and then when I drove you outta town and you had to sit in the truck and just sit there and watch and wait…" Jax trailed off again and he swallowed hard, running another hand over his eyes.

Harper tilted her head to the side, and then, with a soft smile, she slid off her chair, closed the short distance between them, and climbed into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck to hold him close, and he pushed his face into her neck before pressing a soft kiss into her skin.

"I'm sorry about all of that," he murmured against her neck. "If I could've traded places with you, I would've."

She turned her head so she could meet him in the eye. "I know. But during that whole thing...I saw you trying, you know that, right? I saw you fighting, literally, to keep them from doing what they wanted to do to me, and even though, in the moment, I wasn't holding out much hope that any of it would actually work...I saw you trying, Jax. I saw you fighting for me. And that _mattered_ to me when I was sitting in that truck, not knowing what was gonna happen to me. It still does."

Jax leaned closer to brush his lips against her mouth, and murmuring, "I know that, babe. But the way you were treated, the way we scared you...I actually had a fucking conversation with two of my club brothers and my actual brother about whether to take your life. I just can't even..."

"You can't beat yourself up over something you can't change, Jax. And if you thought I was scared yesterday, that was nothing compared to the time me and my friend got trapped in this diamond smuggler's villa in Cape Town. _That_ was effing scary."

"You're fuckin' insane," Jax laughed against her lips.

"I think you like me that way."

He grinned again before brushing his lips against her mouth. "Yes, I do."

"But seriously," Harper laughed, reveling in the feeling of being this close to him, of feeling him wrapped around her this way. "I don't understand why you have such a hard time believing me. You believed me before when we were talking about where things stood between us. Why is it so hard to believe me now?"

"Because," he smiled against her lips again. "That was _serious_ , babe. And we both knew it. This...you makin' up stories about gettin' trapped in some diamond smuggler's villa or hookin' up with some Saudi prince -"

"Again with the Saudi prince," Harper huffed. "Why are you so obsessed with Amir? What did he ever do to you?"

"Well, seein' as how he's not even _real,_ " Jax laughed. "I guess I've got nothin' to be jealous about, huh?"

She playfully turned his face away from her, making him bark out a laugh. "Whatever. So, you're saying you're willing to believe me only when it's about something serious?"

"I'm sayin' I trust you to tell me the truth when it counts and when it matters, like earlier today when I _needed_ you to tell me the truth. And contrary to popular belief, I actually _like_ your stories, princess. They're pretty entertaining, and if anything," he shrugged easily, "it just shows how quick you can think on your feet. It's pretty damn impressive actually. The way you can just come up with that shit right off the cuff like that."

She rolled her eyes at him, but he followed that up with a searing hot kiss that just about knocked her right off his lap. It was a good thing he was holding on tight, otherwise she probably would've been a puddle on the floor.

But then he broke away so he could lean into her with a shit-eating grin. "Hey, so I've been thinkin', princess."

"Uh oh."

"Yep," he tipped his chin to her, his blue eyes glinting evilly. "You say you've got all these mad skills and you've been on all these crazy adventures and into all these shenanigans, and you've made it pretty clear you want me to believe you. But, see, the thing is you've yet to show me any evidence that any of that shit is actually true. I'm a cynical asshole, babe, so I need to see it to believe it."

Harper narrowed her eyes playfully at him. "What are you saying?"

"I'm sayin' I think you should put your money where your mouth is, and show me what you've got."

"Hmm," she tapped her index finger to her chin in thought. The movement made his lips slip to the side of his mouth in that sexy lop-sided smirk that was quickly becoming her favorite thing in the world. Then she held her hand out for him to shake, "Hello, sir. My name is Selena Beverheusen. It's a _pleasure_ to meet your acquaintance."

"Trust me, Selena," Jax laughed as he shook her hand, his eyes glinting devilishly. "The pleasure's all mine."

* * *

Jax lounged against the table, kicking his feet out, and took a nice long pull from his beer bottle. He glanced at Harper out of the corner of his eye, smiling to himself as he took in the way her eyes flicked from patron to patron at the bar, evaluating and scrutinizing each one before moving on to the next one. She actually kinda reminded him of one of those velociraptors from _Jurassic Park_ , sniffing out and zeroing in on her prey before she attacked.

Yeah, he was clearly dealing with an experienced con artist right now. So, it was probably a good thing she was also his _wife_ now too...and even just thinking that made him smile a little. This whole thing was still going to take some getting used to, and he figured they'd have some adjusting to do when they got back to Charming as they settled into their lives together now, but...he didn't regret this at all. Not for one second.

It was probably the craziest, most reckless thing he'd ever done - jumping into a real relationship and a real marriage with her like this - but like Harper had said before, maybe that was why he trusted it. His instincts were never wrong, and his instincts were telling him that all this...starting with what she'd seen in the parking lot to them sitting right here in this dingy casino in Reno, it had all happened for a reason.

Because now, with this girl, who was now his wife and his old lady, it felt like she was always supposed to be here, sitting next to him, his true partner in crime, literally and figuratively speaking.

He'd learned a long time ago not to ask stupid questions. Not to play games. Not to mess around if he didn't have to. At least not when it was about something important, something that mattered. And _this_...it mattered a whole fucking lot.

 _She_ mattered.

And so, he wasn't going to ask stupid questions, and he wasn't going to play stupid games with her either. Besides, he'd somehow ended up with the craziest, funniest, scrappiest, smartest, most resourceful, most beautiful woman he'd ever met in his life. The way he saw it, he'd be a real idiot to do anything but throw her over his shoulder and take off running as fast as he could.

Especially since he was already married to her.

Some things just had a way of working themselves out, which was pretty crazy considering the last month or so had been the worst of his life.

But things were looking up, that was for damn sure.

He tipped his chin to a couple who'd just sidled up to the other side of the bar, and he leaned in to murmur to Harper, "How 'bout them?"

Harper tilted her head to the side ever so slightly as she inventoried the couple he'd pointed out, and he found himself grinning at the movement. She tended to do that whenever she was thinking through something, or right about to unleash some unrelenting truth on him, and it was quickly becoming one of his favorite things about her. It was cute, sure, but it was also just... _her_. Completely her.

And right now she was up to no good, and he was just sitting here, enjoying every second of it.

"I don't know," she whispered back to him. "They look a little... _too_ easy. Like, to the point where I'd just feel bad about the whole thing. It's no fun if they make it too easy."

"What do you mean?"

Harper shot him an exasperated glance, and then tipped her chin to the man, who was digging his wallet out of his back pocket. "See his pockets?"

"Yeah," he smiled, even as his eyes drifted to the man in question.

"Huge. Like, three sizes-too-big huge. Kinda like your jeans too," her eyes flicked pointedly to his waist.

His eyebrows lifted in amusement. "Are you sayin' you don't like my clothes, princess?"

"I'm saying your fondness for baggy jeans is a pickpocket's wet dream. If anyone actually wanted to risk life and limb to try it."

"Well, I can safely say that I've never been the victim of anyone's sticky fingers, but you didn't really answer my question."

Harper just lifted a shoulder with a wry smile. "I will admit I didn't particularly _love_ the baggy jeans and the flannel and the Kurt Cobain haircut -"

" _Kurt Cobain_ haircut? The _fuck_?"

That was a fucking first. Even he knew that wasn't exactly a compliment.

"Hey," she smacked him lightly on the chest. "Let me finish, please. I was _going_ to say that I didn't particularly love all that when I first met you, but it's grown on me. _Significantly._ "

"Well, I'd hope so," he shot her a wary glance.

"Uh huh," Harper grinned, leaning in just enough to brush her mouth against his lips. "I wouldn't change a thing about you, _honey_. Anyway...so our buddy's pockets that are three sizes too big - that's prime real estate there, for sure. Not to mention the fact that he just showed me which pocket he keeps his wallet and his money in. And if she…" Harper trailed off as her attention turned to the woman now, who'd just taken a seat at the bar. "I knew it. Look at that! What an idiot."

His head turned to see what Harper was shaking her head at, and that smile on his face just spread even wider. The woman had, haphazardly and pretty casually too, tossed her purse around the back of the barstool with the zipper half open.

"That is pretty stupid," he agreed.

"You'd think they'd never been to a casino before or something, but they're definitely tourists. Tourists are pretty easy targets, which, hence, why that's just no fun."

"Hmm," he mused with a smile. "I see your point."

"But, that being said," Harper sighed. "I suppose I don't see any better options right now. I'll just have to go easy on them, I guess."

"Right," he glanced back at her as he took another pull from his beer, his lips curving into a smile around the mouth of his bottle. "Go on then, Selena. Show me what you got. Just don't get caught, okay? I don't have enough money left to bail you outta jail tonight."

She just cocked a wary eyebrow at him as she gently readjusted the veil at the top of her head. "Like I'd actually get caught."

"You did once," he reminded her with a shit-eating grin. "Petty theft, if I remember right."

"Hey," she pointed a finger at him. "That was early on in my career, okay? I made a stupid mistake and got caught. But, I _learned_ from that stupid mistake and I've never gotten caught since."

"Alright," he lifted his eyebrows in amusement. "Whatever you say, princess. Hey," he tipped his chin toward the top of her head, "You really gonna wear that right now? I feel like that veil is a pretty easy identifier, Selena. You know, should your unsuspecting victims decide to report you to the authorities."

Harper just shot him an exasperated look before leaning in. "Diversion is the name of the game, Jax. If they're looking here," she pointed to the veil on her head, "they're not looking here," she wiggled her fingers at him with a sly grin.

His jaw worked around a grin, and he took another quick pull from his beer bottle so he didn't completely give away her game. "A'ight. You're the boss, I guess. Go on then."

Harper rolled her eyes, but she obliged him, sliding out of her stool and adjusting her veil with a wink. Then she turned on her heel and literally _slinked_ over to the other side of the bar, like she was fucking Jessica Rabbit or something. He'd only just met Selena Beverheusen, but he already liked her. A _whole_ lot.

From his vantage point, he was far enough off to the side to look inconspicuous, not to mention far enough away from the unsuspecting couple so that they'd never even notice he was there. Basically, he just needed to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Damn, he really wished he had some popcorn right about now. So, he settled for his beer instead, and took another pull from the bottle as Harper approached the couple at the bar.

She hesitated, fumbling through her purse with her head down. At first, he wasn't quite sure what she was playing at, but when a man stepped around her and settled right next to the man she'd set her sights on, he realized she was just biding her time. Harper must've seen that guy coming, and so she was stalling, letting this guy order his drink and move to the side until there was enough room for her to slip right in.

And slip in she did.

She bided her time, and when she decided the moment was right, she moved in for the kill. Harper moved to the man's side, lifting a hand to get the bartender's attention, and in the process, bumped right into him from behind. Like clockwork, the man turned to face her, his eyes almost immediately flying to the veil on her head, and Jax watched with a shit-eating grin as Harper stealthily dipped her fingers inside the man's back pocket, right where he'd shown her where he kept his wallet only a few minutes before, and snapped back just as quickly with his wallet in her hand.

"Oh, excuse me!" Harper was saying to the man now with a light, friendly laugh as she slipped his wallet into her purse. "I'm so sorry about that! I really need to watch where I'm going."

"No worries," he smiled at her, and then pointed to her veil. "Hey, I guess congratulations are in order!"

At this point, the minimal conversation had gotten the woman's attention, and she turned her head to see what was going on. Her face lit up immediately when she got a good look at Harper's veil and white dress.

"Oh my goodness! Did you just get married today?" the woman exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together in front of her.

Harper grinned brightly, stepping around the man until she was standing between them, but just far enough behind them that she still had easy access to the woman's purse. Jax bit down on his bottom lip, shaking his head at the boldness and the fucking bad-assery all this had to take - sure, it was morally wrong. It was more than a little bit evil too, especially since Harper clearly considered these people such easy marks it was pathetic. But he liked what he saw, and he was looking forward to seeing more.

As it turned out, he didn't have to wait that long, because as Harper stood in between the couple, happily chatting about their wedding earlier that day - not lying to them about it either - and introducing herself as _Selena,_ she casually rested a hand on the back of the woman's barstool while the other dipped inside her half-open purse.

"It was just so perfect, you know?" Harper was cooing to the woman now, playfully tapping her on the shoulder. "I mean, I wish my sister and my husband's mom could've been with us, but what can you do? We just decided to do it and have this whole day to ourselves. I didn't even care about all the rain we got today!"

"Oh, that's right," the woman laughed as the man listened on, both of them completely entranced by Harper's exuberance and drawn in by her charm. "It rained all day today, didn't it?"

"Well, you know, the sweet little woman who witnessed for us said that rain on our wedding day was actually good luck and a sign of fertility! So _that's_ good!"

"I'd say," the man laughed, shaking his head a little.

Now, the woman was looking around the bar, even though she didn't quite know who or what she was looking for. "So where is this new husband of yours? We'd love to buy you both a drink!"

"Oh," Harper tapped the woman playfully on the shoulder. "You don't have to do that."

"No, please," the woman laughed again. "We insist. Go grab that husband and drag him over here."

"Oh, okay," Harper grinned widely. "I'll be right back."

She shot them both a quick, excited wave, then turned back on heel to head towards Jax, and winked at him.

Harper was on the other side of their table in a flash, putting her arm around his neck, and leaning in close to make it look like they were deep in conversation. But, in reality, she was actually dropping her prizes on his lap like she was dropping a mic. Jax glanced at his lap, and had to bite back a loud laugh - a man's wallet and a longer, pinker wallet sat there, just waiting to be rifled through.

"Do me a solid, _honey_ ," she murmured in his ear. "Take a quick glance inside his wallet and grab some cash if you see it."

"On it, Selena," he flashed her a grin, but he got to work, flipping open the man's wallet and lifting a twenty out of it. "Is that enough?"

"Oh, that's plenty," she practically cooed in his ear, and he had to bite back the little shiver that sent through him. "So, I'm gonna go back over there, and you're gonna come with me so I can give them their stuff back."

"You didn't really need to grab her wallet, did you?"

Harper lifted her eyebrows in amusement. "Just wanted to prove to you I could. Now, let's go, and try to stay behind me if you can."

He started to respond, but she immediately shushed him and practically yanked him out of his barstool, grabbing him by the hand to pull him along. And he had to bite back yet another shit-eating grin when the woman turned, locked eyes on them as they approached, and then those eyes just about fell out of her head.

"Ooo," Harper murmured in his ear. "I think she likes you. Can't say I blame her though. Just go with it, _honey_."

The woman's eyes never left Jax, even as he did everything he could to keep himself from openly laughing at her, and so he just rolled with it, falling into step with Harper and draping an arm around her shoulders. Harper led them right over to the couple, who were waiting happily, and completely none the wiser that they were both missing their wallets.

"Hi again!" she laughed, and gestured to Jax. "This is my husband, Travis. I told you I'd bring him over here!"

Jax took his cue, unwrapping his arm from around Harper's shoulders so he could shake hands with the man, and then with the woman - who was still staring up at him with stars in her eyes - and apparently providing Harper with enough of a diversion so she could seamlessly and effortlessly slip their wallets back in their rightful spots.

"Congratulations again!" the man said to Jax, clapping him on the shoulder like they were old friends. "What can we get you to drink?"

"Oh, you know," Harper tapped him on the shoulder playfully. "I _finally_ convinced Travis here to take me upstairs where they're playing some music - we have to get our first dance in, right? So, we don't really need to get another drink right now. Why don't you let us buy _you_ a round of drinks just because you've been so sweet!"

The woman opened her mouth to protest, but Jax swooped in for the landing.

"Please, darlin'," he flashed her a megawatt grin, and he could've sworn he saw her eyes glaze over. "I insist. What can I get you to drink?"

"Come on," Harper prodded, and then she nodded to Jax. "You've got some cash, right, Trav?"

Jax grinned back at her slyly. "That I do, babe," and then he leaned forward, purposefully brushing his arm against the woman's shoulder just to get a reaction out of her, and put the twenty dollar bill he'd taken from the man's wallet and dropped it on the bartop.

"Get whatever you want on us," Harper told the man, tapping a hand to his shoulder again for good measure. "I'm gonna go dance with my husband now!"

"And you know what?" Jax winked at the woman. "I'm in a particularly good mood today, so just keep the change at the bar and buy yourself another round with whatever's left, a'ight, darlin'?"

They waved goodbye to the couple, who looked a little bit stunned now more than anything, but then the man just shrugged and used the cash to order them each another drink. Jax slung his arm around Harper's shoulders again just as her arm wrapped around his waist, and they headed off onto the casino's main floor.

* * *

"That was pretty brilliant, babe," Jax murmured in her ear.

Even despite the high those little sleight of hand tricks always gave her, she still felt a shiver run through her at his closeness. She had a pretty good feeling that, pretty soon, she was going to be ready to move on to the next part of their night, but there really was one more thing she wanted to do with him before they got there.

"Why thank you," she laughed. "You know, I think you just might be a natural yourself."

His lips kissed her ear again, and she shivered at the contact. "That's quite the compliment, coming from you."

"Hey, you're welcome. I think, with some intensive training, you could be a very valuable asset to my operation."

"Oh really?" he cocked an eyebrow at her as she steered them to the elevator so they could go up to the third floor, where one of the bars functioned more like a mini club than anything.

She was getting that dance with him tonight come hell or high water.

"Sure. You saw the way that lady was looking at you. I think I'd be an idiot not to try to capitalize on that - just think of all the sorority girls and the bachelorette parties and the girls' night outs we could run circles around. The possibilities are endless…"

Right now, it was all she could do from clapping her hands together with evil glee. All she'd have to do was push Jax right in front of a group of unsuspecting women - of any age - and she could go to town without anyone being the wiser. On some level, it would almost be too easy, running that game, but it would be so much _fun_ with him too. God, she couldn't wait.

Now, they stepped onto the elevator with their arms still wrapped around each other. She hit a button to take them to the top floor of the casino, and leaned into him again, glancing up at him and feeling a little bit like she needed to pinch herself.

Jax dropped a kiss onto her shoulder, and then rested his chin on her shoulder. "What you thinkin' right now?"

"I'm thinking that this day started out being the worst day of my life," she smiled softly. "And it somehow ended up being the best day instead."

"I know what you mean," he murmured against her skin. "I've been havin' the time of my life with you today."

"That's good," she laughed as they stepped out of the elevator. "Hey, you know what's crazy? How many couples can really say they had their first kiss at the end of their wedding ceremony? Well, except for, like, creepy Mormon child brides or those weird arranged marriage things they do in India, but you know what I mean."

Jax muffled his laughter against her neck, shaking his head at her before pressing his lips into her skin again. "I guess that is pretty crazy. No one would believe us though."

"So what? We'll also have the ability to say that we waited until our wedding night. Now, how many couples can really say that?"

"Nobody that's ever been inside the clubhouse, that's for damn sure. But I'm not exactly sure this counts as _waiting,_ " Jax laughed, but there was some heat flooding his navy blue eyes now that made her squeeze her thighs together and her toes curl a little bit inside her heels. "You still sure about that, babe? You can change your mind. Always."

She'd never been more sure of anything in her life.

"Yeah, Jax," she smiled. "I'm sure. I was thinking...I want that dance with you, and then I think we should head back to our hotel room. Call it a night, you know? It's been a really long day, and I'm ready to get _out_ of this dress."

His lips curved into a slow, sexy smirk, and he tipped his chin to her agreement even as his eyes seemed glaze over the longer they stood there. And then his lips found her ear again.

"Hey, you should probably know now, before we go in there and have our dance and then head back to the hotel," he whispered in her ear. "I don't have any condoms with me."

Her eyes just about popped out of her head, and her mouth dropped open. " _What_? That can't be true."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he laughed. "I'm sorry, but when we stopped at my house this morning, that wasn't exactly something I thought I'd be needing at any point today."

She tilted her head to the side, regarding him with some serious disbelief now. "But don't you like...always have one with you? I don't know, you seem like the type of guy who'd have, like, four in his wallet, ten in his bike, and cases and cases in his room at the clubhouse."

His eyebrows lifted in amusement, but, she noted, his lips _did_ pull apart a little in a grimace. "I'll admit, _yes_ , I typically have at least one in my wallet - better to be safe than sorry, I always say. But I don't have one in my wallet right now."

"And why is that?" Harper narrowed her eyes at him playfully.

He blew out a rough sigh, rolling his eyes at her even as he scrubbed a hand over his mouth in some embarrassment that maybe would've been cute, if not for their current topic of conversation. "I _had_ one in my wallet, but it's _possible_ I used it recently and never got around to replacing it."

"Ah. I see."

"Right," he sighed exasperatedly. "So, what I'm saying is, we need to make one more stop before heading to our room tonight, _if_ that's still what you wanna do when we get to that point."

"Uh huh. Sure. And why are you just telling me this very important piece of information now?"

"Because," he lifted his eyebrows again with a sly grin. "I told you I didn't want to put any pressure on you. I want you to decide whatever you're going to decide because that's what you wanna do - and not for any other reason. Condoms are pretty easy to come by, babe. I'm sure that gift shop on the first floor has some we can pick up on our way out. But I didn't want that particular piece of information to sway you one way or the other."

"Huh," she tilted her head to the side again in thought. "I can't decide if that's sweet or just a tiny bit manipulative. Maybe it's a little of both."

"Manipulative?" he laughed. "I thought I was being...I don't know, like a gentleman or something. Here, I'm offering to sleep on the floor, in the truck if that's what you want. What was I supposed to do, say _we can totally do whatever you want tonight, but by the way, I have zero protection on me, just so ya know_. I just figured that piece was irrelevant because that's also a problem that can be easily fixed. Butnow that I'm saying all that out loud...I can see how that might sound a little bit like I _was_ tryin' to sway you a certain way," and then he held his hands up in the air in defense, "I swear that was 100 percent not my intention, babe."

"Maybe not consciously," Harper grinned slyly as they came to a stop right in front of the bar, gesturing to the sign out front with her head. "Oh, _look_ \- it's 80s night. This day just keeps getting better and better."

Without giving him a chance to protest - like he'd even try at this point - she took Jax by the hand and pulled him inside the bar, where 80s night was in full-swing, complete with the bartenders and waiters running around in neon spandex and matching headbands. She marched them right up to the DJ booth and pointed to her veil.

It took the DJ a moment to really see them, but when he glanced up from his set, his eyes widened and he broke out into a wide grin, pointing back at Harper. "Newlyweds!"

"That's right," Harper cupped her hands around her mouth to call back to him above the music. "Can you play us a slow one?"

The DJ just nodded to them with a thumbs up. "Coming up next!"

With that, Harper pulled Jax out onto the dance floor, and luckily for him, he just followed her lead and let her pull him all the way to the middle, despite the fact that there was definitely _not_ a slow song blaring from the speakers right now. There was still about a minute or so left of "Dancing With Myself" filling up the bar, and that was appropriate enough as Jax stood in the middle of the dance floor with his hands in his pockets, and a smirk playing on his lips as Harper lifted her arms in the air to dance to the beat.

She danced around him for the rest of the song, just lost in the moment, and honestly not caring who saw or what she looked like right now. It was probably quite the sight for any onlookers who cared enough to look - her hair had dried now, but it was tangled and a little matted in the back from her veil, and she could only imagine what her makeup looked like, if there was actually any left on her face. But Harper didn't care. This was her wedding day, and she was dancing with her husband, even if his idea of participation was standing next to her and enjoying the show.

That was good enough for her.

But they didn't have to wait very long for their moment because the song was over pretty quickly, and then the DJ's voice floated over the speakers:

"Alright, alright. We're gonna slow things down here a little. This one goes out to the newlyweds over there in the middle of the dance floor. Congratulations, guys, and enjoy the rest of your night!"

Jax took his cue as the music started playing, stepping toward her and pulling her into his arms.

_Looking in your eyes I see a paradise_

_This world that I've found is too good to be true_

He even surprised her by taking her hand and holding it out in a traditional slow dance hold, rather than the typical teenagers-at-prom one with his arms locked tight around her waist. His hips were even swaying a little playfully to the music too as he glanced down at her with a soft smile on his handsome face.

_Let 'em say we're crazy, I don't care about that_

_Put your hand in my hand, baby, don't ever look back_

_Let the world around us, just fall apart_

_Baby, we can make it if we're heart to heart_

"You're actually a pretty good dancer when you wanna be," Harper smiled up at him.

"Oh, you know," Jax leaned in so their cheeks were pressed up against each other. "I guess I'm just full of surprises."

"I guess you are," she laughed, leaning into him and swaying with him to the music. "This is nice."

His lips found the side of her head, and then he pressed their foreheads together. "Yeah, it is."

_I'm so glad I found you, I'm not gonna lose you_

_Whatever it takes, I will stay here with you_

Then he surprised her again by pushing her back so he could give her a little twirl, and pulling her right back in again so she was in his arms and pressed back up against his chest, with their faces cheek to cheek.

"Look at you go," Harper laughed. "Who knew you were so smooth on the dance floor?"

Jax just lifted a shoulder, even as he was still swaying his hips playfully, and he flashed her a grin. "I definitely didn't."

_And we can build this thing together, standing strong forever_

_Nothing's gonna stop us now_

_And if this world runs out of lovers, we'll still have each other_

_Nothing's gonna stop us now_

Swaying to the music like this, with their bodies pressed up against each other...there was a part of her that still couldn't quite wrap her head around the fact that she'd done the one thing she thought she'd never do, and that she'd done it all in one day. Here she was, slow-dancing with the man she'd married today, in a dingy casino, in Reno, and she couldn't have been happier about it.

This felt right because it was. This felt _good_ because it was. And she knew it, right down to her bones, that this was the rest of her life, right here, with him.

It probably should've scared her and sent her running for the nearest exit so she could hop on the next plane to get the hell out of there, but for the first time in her life, that was the last thing she wanted to do. She'd promised him she wouldn't run, and she was going to keep that promise.

Harper lifted her head so she could meet him in the eye. "Hey, Jax?"

His lips curled at the corners. "Yeah, princess?"

"I'm glad I married you today."

Her heart pounded as he dipped his head lower, brushing his mouth against hers, smiling into her lips. "I'm glad I married you today too. I'm kinda feelin' like this is probably gonna end up being the one thing I did right in my life...keeping you safe, marrying you, _being_ with you."

"It's a _little_ crazy."

"Sure," Jax grinned. "It is. And we're gonna have a helluva lot of explaining to do when we get home, but I'm good with that. I really don't give a shit what anyone else thinks."

"This is a pretty unconventional way to get married, or even start a relationship," she tilted her head to the side a little so she could really see his face as she spoke. When he just laughed, she took that as a sign to push forward. "But I'm good with that, too. I know how I feel about you. It's new, but it's strong, and it's real, and it _means_ something to me. You told me earlier today that my life and my safety felt precious to you. Well, this... _this_ feels precious to me too."

"I know what you mean. It feels precious to me too."

Harper turned her head just enough to catch his lips, and he leaned into her kiss, matching her movement for movement, stroke for stroke, letting his tongue slip through her parted lips, until they weren't even really dancing anymore. Their intertwined hands dropped so they could get a little closer, Harper wrapping both arms around his neck, and Jax tucking her in with both arms snaked around her waist. Their kiss ended with the song, and Jax pressed their foreheads together one more time.

She knew what was going to come next, and she was ready. And she knew she'd done nothing but make the right choices today, starting with marrying him in the first place, telling him the truth about her feelings for him, having this dance with him, to pushing them to hold off going back to that hotel room so they could enjoy this time together. When they got home, life would rear its ugly head, and they both knew that.

This time they'd had together today...that felt precious to her too.

Harper was positive that she could be 90 years old, stuck in some nursing home somewhere, and she'd still look back at this day as the day where everything had shifted. Where everything had fallen into place, even if it had come about from the craziest, and scariest, of circumstances. The whole trajectory of her life had changed in just one day - when she thought her life was headed to the right, it had taken a hard turn to the left instead.

That was fine. That was _good_. And maybe that was really what life was all about anyway.

So there was no lingering doubt and no second-guessing when they left the dance floor hand in hand. They made a quick stop at the gift shop on the first floor on their way out, and sure enough, the gift shop had exactly what they needed, just like Jax predicted. By the time they stepped outside and back out onto the streets of downtown Reno, the rain had mostly subsided with only a light mist kissing their skin as they headed down the street and right for their hotel.

Jax picked up his pace just a little, like the anticipation was finally getting to him, and he gripped her hand a bit tighter too, like he was holding on as hard as he could and didn't want to let her go. Harper matched his pace with a grin, and then, he shot her a playful smirk as he picked his pace up just a little bit more, and then she matched that pace until they were nearly all-out sprinting down the street until they skidded to a stop right outside the door of their hotel room.

They were both huffing and puffing a bit, all while laughing too, and Jax propped a hand up on his knee as he dipped lower to catch his breath - but he never dropped her hand.

"We really need to quit smoking," Harper pushed out breathlessly.

"Maybe," Jax smirked, but his breath still hadn't exactly returned to normal either.

Finally, he straightened up, and moved right toward her, bringing his free hand up to her cheek. Those butterflies were back in full force now, skittering around her stomach, and bouncing around with no settling down in sight. Then, Jax surprised her again, scratching the back of his neck nervously and squinting down at her with just a touch of agitation written across his handsome face.

"So...should I carry you across the threshold or somethin'?" Jax grinned. "Isn't that somethin' people do?"

Harper tipped her head back in a laugh, biting down on her bottom lip when her eyes found him again. Those butterflies just would _not_ quit. "I don't think that will be necessary."

"A'ight," he just shrugged. "I've never been married before, so I don't know...just wanna make sure I'm doin' everything right, you know?"

"I think you're doing pretty well so far," Harper smiled back, and squeezed his hand.

"Good to know," Jax shot back, and he squeezed her hand again in return. "You nervous?"

He must've seen right through her, but if she was scrutinizing him carefully here too, and she definitely was, his own nervousness over this next step, this next threshold, was pretty palpable too.

"A little," Harper admitted with a small smile. "Are you?"

He nodded, matching her smile, and flashing just a bit of that same nervousness she felt too. "A little."

But even she could see, through her own initial anxiety, that what they were feeling wasn't bad by any means. It was just natural first-time jitters - this was a new relationship, and this was the first time they were going to experience this together. And if anything, his nervousness just validated her own feelings too.

This was real. This was true. This was the rest of their lives.

So, when she gestured with her head toward the door, those butterflies slowly swam away. There just wasn't much to be nervous about anymore. Why _not_ go into this hotel room with this beautiful man - who really was beautiful inside and out - and who also happened to be her husband, so he could have his way with her? She'd be stupid not to, and Harper was far from stupid.

Jax matched her grin as he slipped the room keycard from his pocket and inserted it into the door, turning the door handle when he got the green light. Whatever nervous jitters he'd been wrestling had long left the building and he tugged her inside their hotel room with a playful grin, and then he gave her another tug, this time so that she was pressed up against his chest and his hand closed around the side of her face.

His lips crashed against hers. His tongue slipped inside her mouth a moment later. No more hesitation, no more nervousness, no more waiting - now, they could just give in to everything they'd been feeling during this day, and her hands glided up his chest to slip that leather kutte away from his shoulders. He was careful to set it down on the chair next to the bed - it was clear to her now that his kutte should never, ever be allowed to touch the floor - but he was on her again in a flash, letting her unbutton his flannel so she could throw _that_ on the floor. The rest of his clothes landed next to his flannel pretty quickly after that, until he was standing in front of her in just those white boxers that had been teasing her all day.

He reached up to gently pry the comb out of her tangled hair and made a cute little show of setting her veil down very carefully on the arm of the chair where his kutte was sitting. Apparently, those two items of clothing really needed to be protected, at least in his mind, but that mattered to her too.

The care he'd taken with her today. The consideration he'd shown her today. The affection he'd shown her today...all of that mattered. And it still mattered when his hands gingerly fell to her waist so he could turn her around. His hands lifted to the zipper on her dress, and he tugged it down with just as much care and consideration and affection as he'd shown her before.

Her dress slipped to the floor, and she gave it a playful kick so it was right on top of the pile of his clothes, right where it belonged. But then, when she turned around to face him, so he could really _see_ her, that nervousness struck again...she just felt so completely and so intimately _exposed_ to him now, more so than she'd felt before with a man.

And once again, his eyes almost did her in. Navy blue, with a hint of darkness and some new tenderness in them that made her heart clench tight. He stood there, about three feet away from her, drinking her in, memorizing the angles and the curves she'd bared to him, and then he moved toward her again.

There was nothing left to hide as he reached around her waist, skimming up the small of her back with his lips pressed against her neck. Nimble fingers made quick with the clasp on her bra, and then those same fingers drifted up to her shoulders, taking their time, exploring each inch of newly exposed skin, until the straps slipped down and her bra fell in between their feet.

Jax's lips curved into that sexy smirk - the same one she'd fallen for in just one day - and he didn't hesitate, running his index finger down the length of her right breast, and stopping just long enough over her nipple to bead it underneath his soft touch. She shivered underneath that touch, so far gone by this point, so more than ready, that she just couldn't wait anymore. She slid her panties down to her ankles and then kicked those into the pile with the rest of their clothes too.

He chuckled at her movement, but that laugh died on his lips when she reached out, skimming her right hand down his sinewy chest, and it was _this_ moment that everything else stopped. This man she'd married had muscles that looked like they were carved out of stone, and they rippled and leapt at her touch, making her mouth water just at the thought of what his skin might taste like on her lips. So she didn't wait for that either, dipping forward to leave a light trail of kisses on his chest, skimming around his shoulders as she stepped around him, letting her hands drift to his waist.

Once she was completely behind him, she gave herself one moment to really take in the full view of that Reaper tattoo on his taut back. God, that thing was really a sight to behold, just like the rest of him.

"What? You didn't see enough of it earlier today to believe me?" Jax's hoarse voice called out to her.

"No, I believed you," she whispered. "I just wanted to see the whole thing."

He didn't respond, but that probably had something to do with the fact that she was making her way around to his chest again, her fingertips leaving a light trail in their wake until they skimmed right along the edge of his boxers. And again, she didn't hesitate, dipping her fingers inside so she could pull them down to his thighs. He did the rest of the work for her, but that probably had something to do with the fact that she was momentarily stunned by the sight of him there - stark naked in front of her.

Then his lips captured hers again as he backed them up until her calves hit the edge of the bed. They tumbled down to the bed, with Jax easily sliding in between her legs as he put out a hand to catch her fall.

She'd known he would be good in bed. Everything from that sexy smirk to the confident swagger he carried pointed to that, but even when he paused long enough to get a condom on, every movement, every touch was so skilled, so practiced it completely set her off-balance. And when he slipped inside her, she hadn't been prepared for the impact of this moment - when they finally joined together physically the way they were already joined emotionally and joined legally. It hit her hard, made her gasp for air, and she could barely keep up as he started to move inside her, grinding up against her, carrying her away.

This was a man who knew what he was doing. And she was reaping all the benefits. He knew exactly where to touch, where to linger, where to kiss...it was almost as if he just knew her body on sight, like it had been made just for him, and she was lucky enough that he already knew exactly what to do with it.

And still, it was his eyes that did her in and pushed her over the edge. The moment their eyes locked, that was it, and he sent her flying over the edge with those navy blue eyes that sparkled with something that looked a lot like love and held a passion for her that she'd never seen from a man before.

How could she not have wanted _this_ with _him?_

Harper had always thought she wasn't naive enough to believe in things like soul mates and other halves. Those things only existed in fairy tales and Disney movies specifically produced to give little girls an unhealthy understanding of relationships and gender roles, at least until somewhat recently. But she'd always been pragmatic enough to understand that those fairy tales, those Disney movies were just that...fairy tales and movies, not real life.

But here, in this hotel room in Reno, the evidence to the contrary couldn't have been clearer or more obvious.

It was as if some part of her had recognized something in him, and some part of him had recognized something in her, and those parts had sat up and said, _this one._

They'd promised forever in their wedding vows today, and before today, forever was a non sequitur, a fallacy that hopeless romantics talked themselves into believing. But now, as Jax carried her over the edge, stilling and then shuddering right along with her, forever didn't seem like such a delusional concept anymore. There was some substance behind it for her now, something real, something that made her feel like maybe her life had just been spent walking toward this moment, and now that the moment was here, and she was living in it, she never wanted it to end.

Maybe that was what forever felt like, or at least _wanting_ forever with another person.

It was a dream she never wanted to wake up from, and finally, when they settled under the blankets, she let her eyes flutter closed, reveling in the feeling of her husband's strong arms wrapped protectively around her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - So, this is the end of the road, for now at least. I know there's plenty more story to be told, but for me, this just sort of ran its course once they officially got together and decided to be married for real (which was not in my original plan, lol. It just sort of happened that way as I was writing it). I'm not saying I'm closing the book on this story forever, especially since there's plenty of story left I could tell with this characters, but this seemed like a good place to wrap things up for now.
> 
> The first chapter of my new story, Lost and Found, will be posted next Sunday, and I'm so excited to share that with you! It's different than anything else I've written, and I'm very, very proud of it. I've already got 11 chapters ready to go too ;)
> 
> I'm really looking forward to your thoughts on this point in Jax and Harper's journey together. And if you've been lurking, now's the time to let me know what you think! As always, thank you so much for reading! See you next Sunday for the first chapter of Lost and Found!


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